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About DamascusDamascus budget travel offers a chance to explore the ancient capital of Syria, with plenty of things to see and do and a sense of history and culture in one of the most tourist-friendly destinations in the Middle East.
Damascus Budget Travel
Below is a list of Damascus's top activities, click on the link to view all details and tours.
Lebanon Day Trip from Damascus
View all activities in Damascus
Damascus airports include:
•Damascus International Airport
Damascus conservation is essential to protect the precious environments remaining. With population expansion and an ongoing influx of people from rural areas and neighbouring countries, a shortage of water has become an increasing issue. Urbanisation and the growing demand for fresh produce and grazing land have had an impact on natural ecosystems.
Damascus culture includes the following aspects:
•Islamic Culture prevalent and influential on most aspects of daily life
•Family bonds and values are strong
•Local women often not open to chance 'social meeting', 'small talk' or 'striking up a conversation'.
Damascus health info for travellers includes the following:
•The most common health risk is travellers tummy from rich foods or tap water
•Health facilities are advanced in the major cities in Syria, but not in rural areas
•Pack a basic first aid kit with medication for upset stomachs, nausea and other minor ailments
•Check with your doctor about any health risks or disease outbreaks that may have occurred recently before leaving for your trip
Damascus languages include the following: • Arabic • French • English • Kurdish
While malaria in Damascus is not a risk, there may be a malaria risk within Asia in general. Travellers who are visiting malaria-risk countries before or after travelling to Malaria should consider malaria medication.
Damascus money and banking info is as follows:
•There are fairly decent banking facilities in the city
•Credit cards are usually accepted in hotels, restaurants and shops
•Traveller's cheques are not widely accepted and may not be exchanged even in banks
Damascus people include the following groups: • Syrians • Kurds • Armenians • Turks • Circassians • Assyrians
Damascus local phrases include the following:
•Hello: Marhaba
•Good morning: S-bahh Al-khair
•Good evening: Masa Al-khair
•Please: Men-fadllaak (m)
•Please: Men-fadllake (f)
•How much: Gha-daish?
Since Syria is a semi-desert area spared some greenery only by the grace of oases, Damascus plants are fairly limited. Yew, Lime, and Fir, trees grow in the mountains. In the Euphrates Valley and the Oasis of Palmyra, Date palms grow.
Damascus religion includes the following:
•Sunni Muslim 80%
•Christian (Orthodox and Catholic)
Safety Tips
Damascus safety tips include the following:
•Secure your passport at your place of accommodation
•Carry passport and visa copies with you at all times
•Be aware of possible pick-pocketing downtown
•Go out in groups , or pairs, particularly if you're female
•Refrain from participating in conversation of a political or religious nature
•Take plenty of pictures but be mindful of photographing state buildings and military units, as in most foreign countries
Damascus local transport includes:
•Mini bus taxi
Travel Books
Damascus recommended travel books include the following: • Lonely Planet Syria by Andrew Humphreys and Damien Simonis • Syria: A Historical And Architectural Guide by Warwick Ball • Syria: Bradt Travel Guide by Diana Darke • The Road from Damascus: A Journey Through Syria by Scott C. Davis • Culture Shock! Syria: A Survival Guide to Customs and Etiquette by Coleman South
What To Buy
What to buy for Damascus: • Spare batteries for torches and camera • Guide books and Arabic phrase books • Thick socks for hiking boots • First aid kit for travel purposes • Large refillable water bottle, or plenty of bottled water
What To Pack
What to pack for Damascus: Su • Sunscreen, sunhat and sunglasses • Bathing suit and towels • Headscarves for women, plus long skirts and t-shirts that cover shoulders • Comfortable walking shoes plus sandals • Casual and smarter clothes for various activities • Camera with spare batteries and memory card/film • Binoculars for bird spotting • Guide book and phrase book • Basic first aid kit
When To Go
When to go to Damascus
•Summers are oppressively hot
•Spring and Autumn offer milder temperatures
•The best time is between April and June and September to November
Commenting is not available in this channel entry.
The highlight of my trip had to be Gweru in Zimbabwe, it was my idea of paradise. So much to do there with the animals and the location of it was just beautiful!
— Anne B (27) from Ireland
The trip was great! A very relaxed ride in a mokoro, followed by camping in the Okavango Delta and watching the animals on the islands was awesome!
— Michael & Silke from Germany
I loved every millisecond of the entire trip... Guess what I did in Swakopmund? I skydived out of a plane - woohoo was that AWESOME :-)
— JoJo E (61) from Switzerland
Finally home and had a great time…. I loved the shark diving, Sossusvlei and Himba people. Saw Lions, a Leopard, Elephants, Giraffes, everything really! Thanks for…
— John E from Canada
I did not believe in god till i visited Chobe National Park.
— Juca from Uruguay
Do this on the Cape Town to Nairobi with Gorilla Trek.Tours with Gorilla Trekking in Uganda
Do this on the 14-day Kruger and Mozambique Safari.Tours with Kruger National Park Game Drive
Do this on the Best of South West Africa.Tours with Okavango Delta Mokoro Excursion
Do this on the Best of East Africa.Tours with Serengeti National Park Excursion
Do this on the Best of South West Africa.Tours with Victoria Falls Flight of Angels
Do this on the Best of South West Africa.Tours with White Water Rafting on the Zambezi River
Visit Etosha National Park on the Best of NamibiaTours through Etosha National Park
Visit Okavango Delta on the Best of South West AfricaTours through Okavango Delta
Visit Serengeti National Park on the Best of East AfricaTours through Serengeti National Park
Visit Victoria Falls on the Best of South West AfricaTours through Victoria Falls
Visit Zanzibar Island on the cape town to darTours through Zanzibar Island


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by Dave Wheelock
Tech's men's rugby club has advanced to the Western USA Rugby Football Union's Division II collegiate playoffs, to be contested in Dallas the weekend of April 5 & 6. Tech will take on Sam Houston State University, the #1 seed from the Texas Rugby Union. Sam Houston State, with a student population of about 13,000, placed in the Final Four of USA Rugby's national division II championships in 2002. Tech will be competing for a berth in the national "Sweet Sixteen" tournament April 19-20 in Huntsville, Texas. The national champion will be decided in San Jose, California in May.
Tech's rugby team will raise funds for the trip to Dallas through sales of commemorative shirts and concessions March 29, as they observe the proclamation of "New Mexico Tech Rugby Day" with a 1 p.m. match at home. T shirts will also soon be on sale at Follet's campus bookstore.

subset: commoncrawl


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Conductors and organist fill Newton with music
Musicians have played at Christ Episcopal Church for more than 30 years
Mello's accoladesJoseph Mello
Joseph's choirs have performed widely and were featured on the NBC Today Show.
Remained choral director at Kittatinny for 36 years, and has conducted the New Jersey All-State Chorus, the All-North Jersey Regional High School Chorus, the New Orleans District Festival Chorus and the All-Cape Cod and Islands Festival Chorus in Falmouth, Mass.
In 1986, Joseph was selected to receive the New Jersey Governor's Recognition Award and was also named the 1986-87 Sussex County (NJ) Teacher of the Year.
In 1990, he was the recipient of the Governor's Award for Arts in Education Distinguished Leadership Award. He was later awarded the Yale Distinguished Music Educator Award by the Yale University School of Music at their International Symposium on Music Education in the Public Schools.
In 2010, Joseph was named New Jersey's Master Music Teacher and received a Governor's Award for Master Music Teacher the same year. Joseph served for 30 years on the New Jersey Music Educators Association Board of Directors and was elected president for a two-year term in 1987 and again in 1999.
He has served as coordinator of the New Jersey All-State Chorus, Orchestra and Jazz Ensemble and is a Life member of The National Association for Music Education and the American Choral Directors Association.
Deborah Mello
Deborah is the Founder and Artistic Director of the Children's Chorus of Sussex County.
She is the recipient of the Master Teacher Award from the New Jersey Music Education Association, the New Jersey Governor's Award for Arts in Education, and the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra Master Teacher Collaborative Award.
In May 2007, she was one of 50 music educators in the United States to receive the inaugural Distinguished Music Educator Award from Yale University.
As a member of the American Choral Directors Association, Deborah has served on the Repertoire and Standards Committee for Children's Choirs as New Jersey State Chair, Eastern Division Chair and National Chair. She is currently serving the ACDA Eastern Division Board as Chair of Repertoire and Standards for Children's Choirs. A recipient of the Artist Teacher certificate from the Choral Music Education courses founded by Doreen Rao, Deborah has been a Teaching Associate in the CME courses taught around the world.
In addition to conducting, Deborah has presented numerous workshops and is currently on the adjunct teaching staff at Montclair State University.
NEWTON — A pair of conductors and an organist have been filling the rafters of Christ Episcopal Church with music for more than 30 years.
For the past 35 years, Deborah and Joseph Mello have conducted the choirs at the church in Newton along with S. Gregory Shaffer, who has been the church's organist for 30 years.
The Conductors
The Mellos met in college and were wed in 1975 near Deborah's parents' home in Wayne. That same year, Joseph took a job at Kittatinny Regional High School.
"The superintendent and his wife liked to sing at the Newton Presbyterian Church, so we joined them," Joseph said.
He was searching for a choir director's job in addition to his teaching position when one became available at Christ Episcopal Church.
Joseph became the Music Director and Deborah the Children's Choir Director in 1979, and thus began a journey of creating music. The couple has three children, one in college, one an actress and one a professional actress.
Along with conducting the choir, Joseph delivers his baritone solo of hallelujahs as the preamble to Father Robert Griner's reading of the weekly Sunday Gospel.
The Organist
Shaffer, started playing the piano when he was five. He played the piano throughout his childhood and got his first church job at 11 in 1964 playing the piano at St. Gabriel's Episcopal Church in Oak Ridge.
When Shaffer was 13, he got his first organ playing job at St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Mount Arlington.
Shaffer played piano and organ throughout high school and went to college for two years. He came home that summer and learned they had just fired the organist St. Mary's Episcopal Church, in Sparta, where his father was the rector. Shaffer filled in as the inter rum basis that summer, and when he was offered the full time position, decided to stay rather than returning to college, to pursue his career in music. He stayed at St. Mary's for more than eight years until one day, Joseph happened to visit and hear him play.
"I was very impressed with the organist I heard," Joseph said.
Shaffer then made the move to Newton.
With one brief hiatus, Shaffer, who lives in Roxbury, has been at Christ Church since 1981. He has two children in college, and his wife, Randi, comes to hear him play as much as she can depending on her job.
Shaffer said the biggest challenge of being a church organist is "expanding my repertoire of sacred music." He added, "Besides all of the material that we sing and I accompany in church, I have three to four thousand pieces that I play."
The Choir
"We've gone through all stages of life with the choir," Deborah said. "From births to deaths and from times of sorrow to times of joy and even singing at some of their weddings."
"It's like a big extended family in many ways," Shaffer added.
One of Joseph's favorite memories was when Deborah and fellow choir member and friend Sue Lathum were at the end of their second and first pregnancies, respectively. "They stepped down to process out, each placing her hand in the small of her back for support, with their very pregnant bellies protruding from beneath their robes to the hymn," he recalled, "The hymn just happened to be 'Come Labor On.' The congregation loved it."
Shaffer's favorite service is Christmas Eve.
"The midnight service is one I just really enjoy," he said.
Psalm Sunday is a favorite Joseph. The choir and members of the congregation meet in the Newton square with palm fronds in hand and process — with a police escort to block the traffic — up to the church.
"The expressions on passersby' faces are priceless," he said. "There are some of bafflement and then others of initial confusion as to what's going on to the sudden realization that they forgot it was Palm Sunday."
Deborah's favorite service is the Easter Vigil where bells ring in the morning and men in the choir sing.
Over the years, these three musicians have brought the joy of music to Christ Church and to the community and they plan on remaining there for a long time.
- May 17, 2019
- May 17, 2019
- May 17, 2019
- May 17, 2019
- May 16, 2019


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Follow Us
Traditional favours for all occasions filled to give to your guests. SAMPLE
The Ladies Bombonieres are tulle nets filled with 5 sugared almonds representing the 5 blessings; Health,Wealth, Happiness, Fertility & Longevity, and each one comes with a name tag and length of ribbon. Simply write the guests name on tag and tie around the bomboniere. The bomboniere will have a height of around 8cm and 12 cm width.
These are sent out secured with rubber bands, you simply have to "fluff up" before placing on your tables. Instructions are included.
Gents Tuxedo favour box
Lovely quality Italian made with a matt textured finish in ivory. Each one is pre filled with 30 mini chocolate heart dragees, this is delicious Italian dark chocolate. Each tuxedo comes with the vintage butterfly already placed. Simply place on the table for your guest. Measuring just over 10 cm in height and 5cm width, 3cm depth.
As these are bespoke items please allow up to 5 days for us to complete them as they are hand made, delivery will take a couple of days on top.samples are sent by Royal Mail to all GB areas
This is a bespoke item finished in your colour choice and as such is not covered by the Distance Selling Act.
Decoration Colours:
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vintage pink butterfly
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Colour of favour net:
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fuchsia hot pink
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November 2nd
9:00am – 1:00pm
Past Event
Education Center
Education Classroom
Makers , Models and Image
With garments, drawings, and photographs from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Icons of Style celebrates the collaborative nature of the fashion industry. Learn how designers, models, illustrators, and photographers work together to define the styles that we recognize from magazine covers and red carpets around the globe. This workshop will examine the process of design in real-world applications and will address standards in visual art.
The Saturday for Educators Workshop Series is designed to enhance educators' understanding of The Ringling's collections and special exhibitions, while also providing an opportunity for networking, collaboration, and inspiration. The Ringling offers Saturday for Educators throughout the school year
- 3 hours of CEU credit are awarded upon completion
- The program includes a lecture, gallery experience & hands-on activity or lesson plan
- Integration with Common Core & Next Generation Sunshine State Standards
- 9:00am to 1:00pm: Check-in begins at 8:30 am
- The cost of the program is $5.00; Lunch is included
- Pre-registration is required
To Register
- Registration for each program will open approximately one month before its scheduled date.
- Complete the Saturday for Educators Registration Form.
- You must complete a registration form for each program that you plan to attend.
- Email your completed Reservation Form to email@example.com.
- To finalize your reservation call Advance Sales at (941) 358-3180, Mon-Fri, 9:00-4:00 p.m. Please have your credit card information ready.
- For more information or if you have questions about Saturday for Educators, please contact email@example.com or (941) 359-5700, ext. 3705.


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The connection factory attributes listed in Table 18–4 support client authentication and the setting of client identifiers for durable subscribers.
All attempts to connect to a broker must be authenticated by user name and password against a user repository maintained by the message service. The connection factory attributes imqDefaultUsername and imqDefaultPassword specify a default user name and password to be used if the client does not supply them explicitly when creating a connection.
As a convenience for developers who do not wish to bother populating a user repository during application development and testing, Message Queue provides a guest user account with user name and password both equal to guest. This is also the default value for the imqDefaultUsername and imqDefaultPassword attributes, so that if they are not specified explicitly, clients can always obtain a connection under the guest account. In a production environment, access to broker connections should be restricted to users who are explicitly registered in the user repository.
The Java Message Service Specification requires that a connection provide a unique client identifier whenever the broker must maintain a persistent state on behalf of a client. Message Queue uses such client identifiers to keep track of durable subscribers to a topic destination. When a durable subscriber becomes inactive, the broker retains all incoming messages for the topic and delivers them when the subscriber becomes active again. The broker identifies the subscriber by means of its client identifier.
While it is possible for a client application to set its own client identifier programmatically using the connection object's setClientID method, this makes it difficult to coordinate client identifiers to ensure that each is unique. It is generally better to have Message Queue automatically assign a unique identifier when creating a connection on behalf of a client. This can be done by setting the connection factory's imqConfiguredClientID attribute to a value of the form
The characters ${u} must be the first four characters of the attribute value. (Any character other than u between the braces will cause an exception to be thrown on connection creation; in any other position, these characters have no special meaning and will be treated as plain text.) The value for factoryID is a character string uniquely associated with this connection factory object.
When creating a connection for a particular client, Message Queue will construct a client identifier by replacing the characters ${u} with ${u:userName}, where userName is the user name authenticated for the connection. This ensures that connections created by a given connection factory, although identical in all other respects, will each have their own unique client identifier. For example, if the user name is Calvin and the string specified for the connection factory's imqConfiguredClientID attribute is ${u}Hobbes, the client identifier assigned will be ${u:Calvin}Hobbes.
This scheme will not work if two clients both attempt to obtain connections using the default user name guest, since each would have a client identifier with the same ${u} component. In this case, only the first client to request a connection will get one; the second client's connection attempt will fail, because Message Queue cannot create two connections with the same client identifier.
Even if you specify a client identifier with imqConfiguredClientID, client applications can override this setting with the connection method setClientID. You can prevent this by setting the connection factory's imqDisableSetClientID attribute to true. Note that for an application that uses durable subscribers, the client identifier must be set one way or the other: either administratively with imqConfiguredClientID or programmatically with setClientID.


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Lack of women's participation in efforts to solve climate crisis was the main focus of the Third Global Congress of Women in Politics and Governance held from 19 to 22 October in Manila, Philippines. The global gender alliance established by IUCN, UNDP and UNEP, encouraged women to speak with one voice at climate change negotiations.
Gender in Climate Change Adaptation and Disaster Risk Reduction was the theme of this year's event gathering more than 350 representatives from governments, development agencies and civil society. The participants launched an appeal for action, emphasizing the urgent need to correct the current gender inequality in tackling the effects of climate change and finding solutions for adaptation and disaster risk reduction.
IUCN asked key participants what is the missing part in their work in order to reduce the gender gap when it comes to climate change. "The consultations with governmental and parliamentary officials allow us to assess their level of commitment and use IUCN knowledge to mainstream gender in the most pressing environment and development issues of our time, " said Lorena Aguilar, IUCN's Senior Gender Adviser.
IUCN is currently preparing the first-ever training manual on gender and climate change for decision-makers, to be presented during the next UNFCCC-led meeting in Poznań, Poland, from 1 to 12 December 2008.


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In the first article in this series (The Psychologists Viewpoint) I outlined how psychologists have investigated attraction and dating preferences by looking at the contents of personal advertisement and online dating profiles.
The second article (He Wants and She is) described the sort of things men say they are looking for in a partner. In this article we turns things on their head and consider what women have said they want in a partner as well as how men describe themselves and whether this matches women's desires.
Before we begin, please spend a few moments and think of about four general things that you think women are typically looking for in a partner … now let's see what scientific research has revealed.
What does the research say?
When looking at sex differences in what's sought from a partner, two factors stand head and shoulders above the rest and are reported so often in the research literature that it would be remarkable if any researcher failed to find these results. In the previous article we discussed the fact that men are far more interested in a partner's attractiveness than women are. The thing that women look for but men don't is wealth.
In fact it is only a small minority of women who directly say they are looking for someone rich and we need to take a slightly broader view of what constitutes wealth or at least financial stability. Some of the phrases encountered do refer directly to wealth (e.g. 'rich' and 'financially secure') but in many cases women will say they are looking for a partner who has specific assets (e.g. 'own house') or employment (e.g. 'business type', 'professional' or even just 'working'). Alternatively, the thing mentioned might be a personal attribute that, while it could be viewed as sought for its own sake, implies an aptitude or capacity to earn now or in the future (e.g. 'ambitious', 'intelligent' or 'college educated').
Taking money, assets, employment and aptitudes separately, in each case women are more likely to say they are looking for a partner with these characteristics than men are. When taken as an overall category of features implying wealth or the capacity to earn, research has consistently shown women are more interested in a partner having these features than men. For example, in 2003 I presented some results to colleagues based on my collection of nearly 5000 advertisements. Within this set of data, women were six times more likely than men to mention one of the above as a desirable characteristic in a partner.
Men seem to be fully aware of what women are looking for as they are consistently more likely than women to mention that they are financially secure, well educated, or have personal qualities that might be expected to lead to wealth or security. Often this is done directly through a bald mention of personal assets such as 'own house and car' (a phrase used so frequently it is often abbreviated to 'OHAC') or men may be more subtle and include something in their description that implies wealth such as 'hobbies include good restaurants, opera, sailing and regular holidays overseas.'
Male interest in attractiveness and female interest in wealth are both pretty clear cut. You will recall the other things men wanted in a partner were also physical features of one kind or another. Women's desires, however, are not as simple as this. Apart from wealth (or at least financial stability/promise) there are three other factors that women are just as interested in and just as likely to mention when seeking a partner.
The first of these is a difficult concept to pin down as different researchers view it in different ways depending on how phrases are grouped together. For example, if we consider phrases such as 'expressive', 'sensitive' and 'open' as referring to something different to phrases such as 'warm', 'loving' and 'romantic' then both our 'expressiveness' and our 'warmth' categories will have relatively smaller numbers of adverts than a general category containing all these phrases. Where researchers do group these together and look for what might be called positive emotional characteristics as a single category, then women are just as interested in finding a partner like this as they are in a partner's wealth and resources. Men are also pretty interested in finding someone who they describe using phrases of this type but not as interested as women are. However men are certainly aware of women's desires in this area as they are considerably more likely than women to describe themselves as having these female-valued emotional characteristics.
Another characteristic that men often lay claim to, and women often seek, is identified by phrases such as 'honest', 'genuine', 'faithful' and 'committed'. If we take these phrases as indicating the desire for a partner who is open to having an ongoing relationship and who is not going to mess you around, then this is something women are also as interested in as wealth and emotionality.
The last female-valued attribute I want to mention is physical and is the only physical attribute that women seek more often than men do. It is height.
Whether a specific height is mentioned or whether it is simply the use of the adjective 'taller' when describing a partner, women are far more interested in a man's height than men are in a woman's, and they almost invariably want men who are tall, or at least taller than they are themselves. This result has been found in numerous studies of personal advertisement and was borne out again recently in a novel study of speed dating events. Researchers at the University of Essex looked at the characteristics of men who were more or less successful at getting invitations to follow-up dates at speed dating events. They found the men who were most successful at any particular event were usually among the tallest present.
Men seem to be aware of this female preference as they are far more likely to mention their height than women. This may be an assertion that they are 'tall' or they may give an actual height. However in my sample of personal advertisements, the average male height (where it is mentioned) is 5 feet 10 inches. This is significantly taller than the average adult male height in the UK population so either these men were inflating their heights or only the taller men mentioned it.
In summary, based on extensive research looking at what women say they want in a partner, the four main characteristics that emerge are wealth (or at least financial security), positive emotional characteristics (such a warmth, openness and sensitivity), someone who is honest and open to forming an ongoing relationship, and height.
How can we use this?
In the previous article I used this subheading as an opportunity to advise women on how they can present themselves to attract initial male attention. In this article I am not going to do this as I think the research above speaks for itself, and I want to explore briefly the moral dilemma I had about writing these articles, particularly this one. It is to do with deception.
There is no doubt that deception is widely used when seeking a date. From a psychological perspective, women's use of makeup, hair dye and body shaping knickers are actually forms of deception that are specifically targeted at the physical features that men are interested in. Now I am not asserting a moral position here as these forms of deception are widespread and socially acceptable, not to mention (in the case of makeup) visually detectable. I more want to make the point that although they may not usually be viewed this way, they are in fact methods used by women to deceive men about their male-valued characteristics.
Given the above, we should also expect men will use deception to make themselves more attractive to women. Furthermore, deception is most likely to involve exactly the things that women seek in a partner. Unfortunately these are intangibles such as personality characteristics that cannot be immediately observed, leaving men much greater scope to lie.
If you are a man who is genuinely sensitive, financially stable, and looking for a real relationship then please do mention this in your personal advertisement as you will probably get a better response, but also bear in mind that many others will be (perhaps falsely) emphasising these features so don't expect women to take any such claims at face value. Women looking for someone like this will and indeed should take the time to get to know someone. It is well known that women prefer to develop relationships slowly and given what I have said above, this is not only understandable but could also be viewed as another way to test a man's character. If he really is sensitive and committed then a slow start to a relationship should not be a problem.
The next article takes some of the results mentioned in this and the previous article and uses these to explore theories of attraction. This may sound a bit dry but the main aim of the article is to introduce you to a current psychological theory of attraction that you can use to assess your own value in the 'mating market'.


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Indoor Air Quality
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Armstrong ceiling products achieve low or very low VOC and Formaldehyde emission levels and have been classified M1 (Finnish emission classification of building materials), and A/A+ (French VOC labeling).
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Download Armstrong Green Building Rating Tool Performance Tables for emission classifications.
In certain areas, it is essential to limit the number of airborne particles by creating a Clean Room-type environment using products certified in accordance with ISO 14644-1.
Armstrong offers solutions for areas requiring minimal to the most stringent requirements: Bioguard, Parafon Hygien, Clean Room FL, Perla OP 0.95 & Perla OP 1.00.
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The light reflectance of the ceiling, floor and wall surfaces play the second most important role for overall illumination of the room, directly affecting working comfort, wellbeing and productivity.
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A well designed ceiling with high light reflectance:
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Specifying high light reflectance ceilings contributes to LEED®, BREEAM, HQE, DGNB and Ska credits.
Download Armstrong Green Building Rating Tool Performance Tables for light reflectance values.
In all types of spaces, choosing the right acoustical solution will enhance the end user's overall comfort.
Determine what is required:
- Intelligibility - I want to be understood
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Armstrong can help you find the right acoustical solution for your space offering the largest range of
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Achieving the right acoustics for specific rooms is recognised in LEED®, BREEAM, HQE, DBNG and Ska credits.
Download Armstrong Green Building Rating Tool Performance Tables for acoustical values.
Thermal Comfort
The thermal mass of the buildings structure absorbs daytime thermal gains and then, during the night time, the heat stored in the thermal mass of the building is released back to the room.
Learn more


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Just read the Salon article. Yellow journalism at its worst. I found this passage particularly annoying:
Others purport to be God, Satan, Nietzsche, Richard Stallman and Need to Know's Danny O'Brien, but these claims have yet to be confirmed.Hmph. Rachel, I'll have you know my identity is at least as believable as the content of organized religion. Maybe more. ;^)


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Israel News - Stay Informed, Pray Informed
The rocket-battered residents of southern Israel may soon have company in their war of attrition with Arab forces, as cross-border violence in the northern Golan Heights on Sunday reached the point that Israel was forced to return fire on Syrian forces.
Early Sunday morning, Syrian forces engaged in that country's civil war, fired a mortar shell that hit an Israeli army post in the Golan Heights. It was only the latest in a series of purportedly accidental cross-border attacks. Having had enough of the provocations, Israel responded by firing an anti-tank missile at a Syrian army installation just across the border.
Israel also filed a complaint with the United Nations, which has thousands of "peacekeeping" troops in a demilitarized zone separating Syria from the Golan. There was no immediate response from the world body.
At the same time, the Golan Regional Council ordered local communities to begin preparing for an escalation, and to ready bomb shelters and other emergency equipment.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak said that at present he does not consider the situation a "cardinal threat" and local community leader did not expect the fighting with Syrian forces to go beyond sporadic border skirmishes. However, there is a larger concern that if the violence between Israel and Syria reaches a certain level, Lebanon's Hizballah terrorist militia, which has involved itself in the civil war, will unleash its missile arsenal on northern Israel.
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Oct. 5 Dusty Baker workout day interview
Q. I wondered if it's strange starting the playoffs here in San Francisco in your hometown. It's been a long time since you managed the Giants. What do you think of starting here and how comfortable are you?
DUSTY BAKER: I really don't have much choice, plus, you know, I feel comfortable here. I think my team likes coming here. This is a good town. There is a lot of excitement going on around here, and even though I haven't managed here in a while, I still have a home here and I live here and I still live in both Sacramento.
Q. I wondered if it's strange starting the playoffs here in San Francisco in your hometown. It's been a long time since you managed the Giants. What do you think of starting here and how comfortable are you?
DUSTY BAKER: I really don't have much choice, plus, you know, I feel comfortable here. I think my team likes coming here. This is a good town. There is a lot of excitement going on around here, and even though I haven't managed here in a while, I still have a home here and I live here and I still live in both Sacramento.
My son was extremely happy to start the playoffs here and I get to see my family, and we've got a tough foe on the other side, we realize that. But if you're going to get to the championship you can't bypass anybody. You have to play whoever is in line.
Q. Dusty, does 10 years feel like a long time ago? You have had a couple of stops elsewhere and they have won a World Series, or does that sting at you sometimes?
DUSTY BAKER: Sometimes it stings at me, but you've got to leave it in the past. You can't live in the future and stay in the past.
But I'm still here. I have an opportunity to win a championship here, and it let's you know exactly that time never stops. Time goes very quickly. Doesn't seem like 10 years ago, doesn't seem like 10 years ago my boy was 3 years old, being pulled off the mound. It let us me know that I'm gettin' older.
Q. You mentioned your energy level. How are you feeling right now?
DUSTY BAKER: I'm feeling great, you know, but you have to -- I have to watch my energy level, so I make sure that I'm right for the game and the whole game. It's only been two weeks since I was out of the hospital, so you have to watch yourself, and my wife won't let me talk on the phone too much. My daughter won't let me talk on the phone too much, or my son, just to make sure my energy level is up. This is my job. This is what I do. Contrary to what a lot of people think, this is my sometimes job, my all the time job is out there.
Q. Johnny had a stretch where he was three starts in early September, not himself, and then he got things back together. Where does he stand and how is he throwing the ball right now as we enter the playoffs?
DUSTY BAKER: That's a good question. He's throwing the ball great. There is not a pitcher in the world that doesn't have a bad stretch, you know? If so, then everybody would win 20 games, but everybody was panicking because he had a bad stretch of games there where I think there was only, what, two 20 game winners, and Johnny was 19. Guys like Verlander, this guy was in the American league and he was 20 games last year, and Johnny is doing fine.
We feel confident with Johnny on the mound, and it got to the point where it spoiled us, where everybody was asking, "What's wrong with Johnny?" Sometimes you go through a bad streak and sometimes the guys on the other side of the field over there are getting paid to do exactly what they did to him. So he's fine.
Q. Dusty, I read that Tash has you on quite the diet and you look lean and mean. Did you go out for a nice dinner?
DUSTY BAKER: Yeah, I went out for a nice dinner. I was without Tash.
Q. What did you splurge on?
DUSTY BAKER: I was with a couple of home boys that I grew up with. I love my daughter, but she had me on couscous and fixed me pastas and made me eat oatmeal every morning and what else, turkey burgers, turkey bacon, and that kind of stuff. So she wants her dad to live a long time, and I do, too.
Q. Back to Dusty Baker for a second. Over the last couple of years, what has been the factor of him elevating into a National League Ace?
DUSTY BAKER: Good question. I think his work ethic has changed. Johnny is a runner now. He wasn't always a runner, and we stressed to him that in my time most of the great pitchers that I've seen were runners.
At the same time, Johnny has learned how to command the strike zone. He's learned how not to have to strike out everybody. That doesn't necessarily make you a good pitcher. And, you know, I mean he's a good bunter. He has really worked on his game. He's changed his style some. You see him doing the Luis Tiant where he came up with that, I don't know, as long as it works.
Q. Dusty, you're a good hitting team and you hit the Giants well in your series. Was there anything particular you liked about your approach or anything you're underlining for them going into the series?
DUSTY BAKER: I wish it would have returned back to us last month. We haven't hit anything really this last month. They're a good pitching team and they have a little bit of a different lineup than when he we saw them earlier. Pence wasn't here last time we were here. Panda was just coming back, I think.
So I mean the main thing is you've got to make contact, keep the ball out of the ballpark, to answer your question. This is a tough park to hit in, tough park when you are dependent upon the home run, which we are in our park. It's a tough park to have to try to get four or five hits in a row in this park. So our guys are figuring it out, watching film, doing whatever we can do to win the game.
Q. You have to be the one opposing manager that 44,000 are probably going to cheer tomorrow.
DUSTY BAKER: Some of 'em! (Laughing).
Q. If you can explain to us the relationship, the dynamic between you and the Giants crowd which has been behind you since you left.
DUSTY BAKER: This is my home, people know that I'm from here and my wife is from here. Like I said, I still live here, part time. I don't know, I just like the people here. I like the attitude. I like people doing their own thing, but basically not hurtin' anybody, and it's just kinda my crowd of people. I grew up with half of the people around here and my relatives are from around here. We'll see if they still love me on Sunday. I hope we start out 2-0, we'll see.
Q. You have always been pretty high energy as a manager. You said you don't have the same energy now.
DUSTY BAKER: Huh uh, I said I'm saving it, and there is a difference between saving it and not having it.
Q. So once the game starts you're the same Dusty baker.
DUSTY BAKER: Most definitely so, that's why I'm telling you I'm saving it.
Q. Contractually you are not signed through next year, which has happened multiple times here when you managed here and you never seemed concerned about it. In this case do you plan to manage next year?
DUSTY BAKER: Yeah, I plan to ...
Q. Somewhere else or -- regardless ...
DUSTY BAKER: I plan to manage. Like you said, you answered the question, I've been through this many times, so I've learned not to worry about something that's really out of your control right now. The only thing that's in my control is to win ballgames and God is always taking care of me. I know people don't want to hear that, but God has always taken care of me so why wouldn't he take care of me now? This is about the 10th time I've been through this, or whatever it is.
I'm not worried and God willing I'm going to manage some more because I think I'm getting better and I'm still enjoy it go, and as long as I'm enjoy it go and as long as my family doesn't object I will be somewhere.
Q. Are the butterflies still as strong?
DUSTY BAKER: What's up, Kevin?
Q. Hey. Butterflies still as strong?
DUSTY BAKER: Well, let's say I woke up at 6:00 this morning and I didn't want to be up, so that's the butterflies that are still there. As long as I still got those, I mean, this is as exciting of a job as a person could have. There is nothing better than me trying to figure out how to kick your butt and you trying to figure out how to kick mine. I'm sure I will have them in the stadium tomorrow, too.
Q. Dusty back to your hitters, since Votto has come back, he's getting on base a lot, no home runs yet, what are you seeing from Joey?
DUSTY BAKER: He's trying to get his stroke. You don't know, Joey might be setting you guys up.
Q. How is your club different than 2010 and do they benefit from that experience of having been on this stage before?
DUSTY BAKER: Our club was a young club then, very young club then. These guys are much more mature now. We have a couple of leaders that have never been there -- you know, that have been there before. When you have Scott Rolen and you have Miguel Cairo and Bronson Arroyo and Hanigan, Navarro that's been there before on the Tampa Ray Devil Rays. We've been here before.
They celebrated, but not excessively like they did in 2010. And I was telling the guys, this is a step 1 of a three step process and I expect you to be happy but not over exuberant because we have a ways to go.
Q. What did you eat last night?
DUSTY BAKER: I ate some soup. What do you call that? Some kinda like tomato soup. I had some more tomatoes, tomato salad and I ate fish.
Q. That sounds healthy.
DUSTY BAKER: Thank you. Tonight I'm eating Filipino food.
Q. The health scare that you've gone through and talking about the contract, did it make you reevaluate how you might see the end of your career potentially in terms of how many stops, how many years?
DUSTY BAKER: Not really. I mean, I wasn't really that scared, really. If you got to end up -- if you're in the place where it happens, in a hospital, you might as well end up in a hospital. Right? I mean, shoot, if things aren't right in your life and all of the sudden, boom, I'm in the hospital, and if they can't take care of me then who can take care of me, then, other than God. The way I look at it, it was a blessing for me to be in a hospital when it was -- when I had my stroke.
I don't think it's -- I wasn't scared at all and especially when I had my family with me. They flew in. They were coming in that day.
So, hey, man, I had everybody on my side. This reminded me of when I had cancer. You start seeing the birds chirping a little more, and you start seeing the moon and you start seeing some things that you don't really pay attention to that you see. Then as far as me evaluating my contract and all that stuff, maybe that was a sign where I was supposed to stay maybe where I am, sort of. I believe in signs, so sometimes it happens.
Q. To go back a little further than 2010 and reflect on 2002...
DUSTY BAKER: John, why you want to go back all the time?
Q. It wasn't so bad in 2010, was it?
DUSTY BAKER: I know, man.
Q. Is this team at all like that team?
DUSTY BAKER: Yeah, kinda. To me this -- this happened to me two weeks ago. What happened to me was what happened in 2000, I started the season off fighting cancer. You know what I mean? So this is kind of taking me back to where I was before kind of. I don't know, man, every team is different. I like this team. I mean, I genuinely like this team and it reminds me of the team that I had here when you genuinely like the players and they genuinely like each other, and that can take you a long ways, by liking each other.
I asked Bill Russell one time a long time ago at a banquet and I said "What was the secret to the Celtics?" And he told me that they genuinely loved each other. I thought it was going to be a profound -- something that I could grab on to but I kept that in my book that he said they genuinely loved each other.


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Hubble Interacting Galaxy NGC 1614
The galaxy system NGC 1614 has a bright optical center and two clear inner spiral arms that are fairly symmetrical. It also has a spectacular outer structure that consists principally of a large one-sided curved extension of one of these arms to the lower right, and a long, almost straight tail that emerges from the nucleus and crosses the extended arm to the upper right. The galaxy appears to be the result of a tidal interaction and the resulting merger of two predecessor systems. The system has a nuclear region of quasar-like luminosity, but shows no direct evidence for an active nucleus. It is heavily and unevenly reddened across its nucleus, while infrared imaging also shows a ridge of dust. The linear tail to the upper right and extended arms to the lower right are likely the remains of an interacting companion and the tidal plume(s) caused by the collision. NGC 1614 is located about 200 million light-years away from Earth in the constellation of Eridanus, the River.
This image is part of a large collection of 59 images of merging galaxies taken by the Hubble Space Telescope and released on the occasion of its 18th anniversary on 24th April 2008.
NASA, ESA, the Hubble Heritage (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration, and A. Evans (University of Virginia, Charlottesville/NRAO/Stony Brook University)


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The Van Raalte Institute at Hope College selected an exceedingly appropriate volume to be the first published through the program's new Van Raalte Press: papers that were featured during the biennial conference of the Association for the Advancement of Dutch-American Studies (AADAS) held on campus last summer.
The Van Raalte Institute at Hope College selected an exceedingly appropriate volume to be the first published through the program's new Van Raalte Press: papers that were featured during the biennial conference of the Association for the Advancement of Dutch-American Studies (AADAS) held on campus last summer.
Titled "Dutch-American Arts and Letters in Historical Perspective," the 234-page softcover book features 17 papers from the June 2007 conference and was published in August of this year. The book was edited by Robert P. Swierenga, Jacob E. Nyenhuis and Nella Kennedy, all of whom are on the staff of the Van Raalte Institute and were also among the conference's presenters.
"The Van Raalte Institute's decision to establish a press as an additional means of publishing the work of researchers into Dutch-American and local history coincided very well with the opportunity to present papers from last summer's conference," said Nyenhuis, who is director of the institute. "With its focus on Dutch-American arts and letters, this volume fits very nicely into the mission of the institute."
Held on June 7-9, 2007, the conference examined the ethnic literature and art of Dutch immigrants and their descendants in North America. The event featured presentations on a variety of topics by some two dozen scholars, artists and authors, and drew participants from around the country, as well as from Canada and the Netherlands.
The papers presented in the book are grouped into five sections: artists, writers, writings, journalists and imagery. The subjects primarily cover the period since the Midwest Dutch immigration of the middle 19th century, and range from local figures and situations to individuals and events to across the U.S. and abroad. The authors include scholars based locally, elsewhere in the U.S. and in the Netherlands.
The chapters and their authors are: "Painter Cornelis Zwaan: Betwixt Laren and Detroit," by Nella Kennedy; "Stained Glass Artistry of John Vander Burgh," by Jacob E. Nyenhuis; "Meindert DeJong: Two Childhoods, One Literary Career in Two Worlds," by Richard Harms; "Arnold Mulder as a Dutch-American Novelist," by Michael Douma; "Yankee Dutch Literature as a Marker of Acculturation," by Jaap Van Marle; "Poetry of Theologian Geerhardus Vos," by George Harinck; "Henry Van Andel's Dutch Grammar Books and the Language Problem," by Herman J. DeVries Jr.; "Mysteries Go Dutch," by Jeanne Jacobson; "Disillusionment of Dutch Immigrant Andries Wormser," by Peter Ester; "Lourens Van Bergeijk's Pamphlet Defense of Hendrik P. Scholte," by Harvey Noordsy; "Reading Culture and Ethnicity in Dutch-American Reformed Pietism," by John Exalto; "Interpreting the Writings of the Van den Burgh Family," by Suzanne Sinke; "Press Censorship: Albertus C. Van Raalte and Hermanus Doesburg of 'De Hollander,'" by Robert P. Swierenga; "'De Volksvriend' and Dutch-American Connections," by Robert Schoone-Jongen; "Paul De Kruif: Medical Conscience of America," by Jan Peter Verhave; "Public Historical Imagery in Pella, Iowa," by Lisa Zylstra; and "Staging the Past: Historical Pageantry in the Dutch-American Community of West Michigan," by David Zwart.
The book is dedicated to Dr. Elton J. Bruins, who is the Philip Phelps Jr. Research Professor and founding director, emeritus, of the Van Raalte Institute, who was one of the founders and an ardent promoter of AADAS. The three co-editors presented the book to Bruins on behalf of the AADAS board of directors recently at the Theil Research Center. Bruins is also the Evert J. and Hattie E. Blekkink Professor Emeritus of Religion at Hope, where he taught from 1966 until retiring in 1992.
Formed in 1979, AADAS seeks "to encourage research and nurture a continuing interest in the history, life, and culture of the Dutch in North America." The association has sponsored its biennial conferences since 1981 to stimulate active scholarship and facilitate the exchange of ideas and research projects.
The Van Raalte Institute is located in the Theil Research Center at 9 E. 10th St. and specializes in scholarly research and writing on immigration and the contributions of the Dutch and their descendants in the United States. The institute is also dedicated to the study of the history of all the people who have comprised the community of Holland throughout its history.
Scholars affiliated with the Van Raalte Institute have published 27 books since the institute was established in 1994, most through the Historical Series of the Reformed Church in America, but also through university presses and other publishers. The Historical Series itself has published 58 books under the guidance of its founding general editor, Dr. Donald J. Bruggink, who is the James A.H. Cornell Professor of Historical Theology Emeritus at Western Theological Seminary and, since 2003, senior research fellow of the Van Raalte Institute. Nyenhuis noted that the institute established the Van Raalte Press to provide an additional means of disseminating work on local and Dutch-American history.
Copies of "Dutch-American Arts and Letters in Historical Perspective" cost $22.50, and a limited number are available through the institute, which is open weekdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and can be called at (616) 395-7678.


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If you need a ride to the mountain, you've come to the right spot! We work with a variety of organizations in the Northwest to make sure you have plenty of transportation options to choose from.
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CAMUS Coffee Is For Valentines!
Description: Globally known for its luxury Cognacs, Maison CAMUS is now launching specialty coffees, debuting with its Signature Blend and French Roast. Already found in Harrods (London), Takashimaya (Singapore), and the Ritz-Carlton (Shanghai), CAMUS Coffee focuses on the highest end of the quality scale, similarly to CAMUS Cognacs which are driven by qualities XO and above. An early U.S. retailer is Dean & DeLuca (New York), and the coffees are available nationally on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=camus+coffee Made from only the top 5% of all 100% High Grade Arabica beans, CAMUS Coffee is grown sustainably -- without pesticides -- at high altitudes, by small scale farmers in South and Central America. The high altitudes necessitate manual harvest, after which the coffees are blended and roasted completely by hand, with the Roast Master overseeing literally every bean used. The Signature Blend has rich aromas, powerful body, hints of hazelnut, and is perfect for any time of day; the darker roasted French Roast has a more intense flavor, and is an excellent finish to a fine meal. Both are available as whole beans or ground, and come in 8.8 oz. packages.
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Calling all young tree lovers! Do you know a budding tree enthusiast who might be interested in improving the life of a young tree near their home or school? If so, the new Junior Forester Program is for them. The Junior Forester Program is open to all local youth ages 5-13 years that are interested in adopting and caring for trees in their neighborhood in conjunction with learning about trees and tree care. The Junior Forester should: 1. WEED AROUND THE BASE OF THE TREE.. Pull weeds by hand and throw away.
2. WATER THE TREE - FILL THE GATOR BAG ONCE A WEEK... DPW will provide a 'Gator Bag' to hold 20 gallons of water.
3. MULCH OR ADD COMPOST TO THE SOIL... Apply 2 – 3 inches of mulch or compost to planting area. Not touching the trunk of the tree.
4. PICK UP LITTER – It is important to clean the tree well.
5. CALL DPW IF THERE IS INJURY TO THE TREE...Call us at 617.349.6949 or 617.349.4885.
To become a Junior Forester, you and a parent or guardian must complete the Junior Forester Application and return it to us with an adult's signature. For more information, please contact David Lefcourt, City Arborist, at 617.349.6433 or at firstname.lastname@example.com.
Related Links:
DCR's Citizen Forester January 2012 Newsletter Features Cambridge Junior Forester Program
Cambridge citizen requests, now online & on the go! Report issues here.
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I'm pretty sure one day you'll need this. As you write this, you are thinking about how you're turning 28 this week. Not married yet. Thankfully, your mom didn't get married until she was 28, so you didn't need to worry about "Man, when my mom was this age, she already had 4 kids…" No, she was just where you are. Except she was dating someone, but whatever, it fits.
What I want to say to you is: I hope you are loving being a mom.
First of all, you know that your single life was actually awesome. You had super awesome wonderful opportunities. So many friends. So many blessings. And you were happy. And you had fun.
But you also know that when you wrote this, things had been a little bit (lot-a-bit) hard at work. Long hours and really difficult projects to work on. Implementing feedback from high-profile people. So many revisions. So much to do, so much to catch up on, so many people to please. And you were trying to build a career after finishing an MBA.
Sometimes your single life was awesome…and hard.
Remember how your goal ever since you were little was to get a bachelor's, go on a mission, get a master's, get married to a super awesome guy and have kids? Well, as I write this to you, I might be close to achieving all of those. Maybe. Or maybe not. (And if it IS the next life when you get married and have kids, I hope the Internet is eternal and you can read this blog!)
But you know that work and school and your singles ward and your many responsibilities were sometimes tough on you. There were a few days where you came home in tears or even cried while you were at work (thank you, waterproof mascara).
On those days, you just wished that you were living the part of your dream of being a mom. That you were with a bunch of hooligan kiddos at home. That you were living the life of the mommy bloggers! On those days, you yelled to the heavens (have you noticed I do that a lot?), "I will take 45 dirty diapers and burned toast and a child who cries the whole time we are shopping! I will take the kids who dropped all the eggs on the floor. I will even take the kids who say I'm mean. I will take the inadequacies. I will take the feelings of not being enough and I will take the feelings of thinking I am a horrible mother."
And whether or not you are temporarily working full-time because your husband is in school, or part-time to pay the bills, or (cross your fingers) not employed at all (except freelance work because you just really like to edit stuff to death!), you won't even mind being in the cross-fire of the stay-at-home vs. employed mom debate (because, really, there's no way to avoid it. Moms can be so mean to each other!).
But you know it's hard, future Mama Liz. Just last week you watched your nieces and nephew. Little terror nephew unwrapped the wrapping paper roll so many times you could scream (…and maybe you did). The kids squashed many of the pears you were going to can all over the pear box. They opened up the drain/pipe access where there are spiders, even though you told them the spiders would kill them! And they did not stay in the garage while you put the car seats in your car and it was raining. They walked through the puddles, of course.
And last week, you watched a friend's kids. While the baby screamed, you tried to make sugar cookies and while the three-year-old rolled out the dough, flour got everywhere! Once you finished a glorious 9 cookies (that's as many as you could handle) you found out the baby was screaming because she had a major blow-out…all the way up her back. And while you tried to clean that up, the other sweetheart wanted to do watercolor painting, which was a feat to keep clean. And you wondered how moms could do that 24/7.
But when you watched the nieces and nephew, they also helped you can those pears so sweetly and were so proud of their work. They told you that they loved you. They asked for more stories at bedtime and cuddled up so close there was no breathing room. They let you sing to them and asked for you to come play again.
|Canning pears with these munchkins
When you watched the other kiddos, you rocked that little baby with her bottle until she calmed down. And as you read books to the other sweetheart, she fell asleep on the couch.
Yes, dear future Mama Liz, you will need this someday. I bet someday you'll wish to take back everything stressful at work and a life where the kids you had to worry about were only loaned to you for 4-6 hours. Where you could actually get your laundry done in two loads every two weeks. Where you could go to work and come home and do what YOU wanted to do. And go to YOUR activities and to YOUR classes and live YOUR life. Where you came home after a hard day at work and talked about YOUR needs.
But future Mama Liz, it might have been fun, but what are you doing today?
When you wrote this, yes, work was stressful, but I'm pretty sure I know what you're doing right now, future Mama Liz. You have a passel of kids with 6 piano lessons, 3 soccer games, a ballet recital, and track meet all in one week. Not to mention the book reports and the science fair projects they just told you about. And the toddler just cut her hair and the Ensign magazine with the scissors you left out because you were sewing a Halloween costume (ruined hair AND ruined fabric scissors! Not to mention you hadn't read the Ensign yet that month). And you are supposed to teach in Relief Society that week, but your kindergartner came home with a cold and dad is out of town on a business trip.
Well future Mama Liz, just remember that's what you dreamed of. It was never a nightmare, always a dream. You knew it would be hard, but you knew it would be awesome, too! Remember the little baby who screamed until you rocked her? That will be worth more to you–and to her–than anything else. The little nephew who drew with crayons on the linoleum? Well, that cleaned up, and then you watched him laugh so hard while you made silly faces. And laughed with him. And remember when the nieces hugged you so tight and asked if you could stay forever? Precious, that is what it is. And love. And innocence.
So take your life with an extra dose of courage today. It was great when you didn't have kids and it was hard when you didn't have kids. It is great that you do have kids and it is hard that you do have kids. But I think you might be just a little bit happier with those sticky handprints on the wall. And if you can't handle it, just call up a 28-year-old working gal and let her watch your kids for a bit. She just might need that this week.
P.S. You should probably call your mom and tell her thanks for letting you live past your terrible twos.


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Is Donald Trump Still Thinking About Running for President? [VIDEO]
If you thought Donald Trump was out of politics for good, you might have to think again. The businessman and host of TV's 'The Apprentice' franchise says he's unhappy with the way the GOP race is going and may jump back in.
Trump, who famously questioned President Obama's American citizenship and demanded to see his long-form birth certificate last year, went on CBS' 'Face the Nation' on Sunday and told Bob Schieffer the "infighting" among the Republican nominees was ruining the party's chances for a win in November.
"I've never seen anything like this. It's Republican against Republican, and yet the level of hatred, I guess you could say, I mean, there's no other word for it, is unbelievable," he said.
While he thinks Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney are "both strong guys, they're both tough guys" who could beat Obama in a general election, Trump said he wouldn't rule out the possibility of running as an independent if "I don't see a person that … is going to win."
"I think people dislike the Republicans and the Democrats more than they ever have," he added. "So I actually think the right Independent could win, and there was a poll about a month ago, you saw it, where I was the number one Independent choice."
"It's not something I want to do [but] I would certainly think about doing it," Trump concluded. "I hope I don't have to, but I may absolutely."
[CBS News]


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- What is a credit card?
- What should I be careful about when using a credit card?
- What are some things I should consider when considering various credit cards?
- How do I make sense of my credit card statement?
- How can I prudently use a credit card?
- I have a lot of credit card debt. How can I reduce it?
- What if I go over my credit limit?
- What is Identity Theft?
- How can identity theft occur?
- What do thieves do with a stolen identity?
- How can I find out if my identity has been stolen?
- What can I do to prevent identity theft?
- If someone has committed a fraud against me, what should I do?
- What if information in my credit report is wrong. Can I fix it?
- A Minute to Learn it - Student Loan Repayment
- When do I begin repayment on my Federal Direct Student loan?
- Loan Prepayment During School
- Loan Prepayment During Repayment
- What happens to my Federal Direct loan if I do not attend school at least half-time?
- What are my repayment options?
- What is an Income-Based Repayment Plan?
- What is the repayment period under an Income-Based Repayment Plan?
- What percentage of my post-college income should I plan to pay toward my loans?
- Do you have any suggestions for what I should be doing now to prepare myself for repaying my loans?
- When should I consolidate my federal loans?
- What are my Stafford or Federal Direct Subsidized and/or Unsubsidized Loan cancellation options?
- What is Loan Forgiveness?
- What is Public Service Loan Forgiveness?
- A Minute to Learn It - Trouble with Repayment
- What happens if I default on a loan?
- If I default on a student loan, how can I fix it?
- Are my parents responsible for paying back my student loans?
- Can I get federal financial aid if I am in default on a student loan?
- Accessing Your Loan Borrower Information
- What happens to my loans if I change schools or move?
- What are the conditions under which I may apply for a deferment or forbearance?


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One of the many facilities Racing And Sports provides for all users is the ability to access "audio" content. Because of our significant domestic and international presence at the race track and of it, not only are we delivering extensive racing information and technology along with form content, you can avail yourself of a substantial amount of interviews conducted by the Racing And Sports team.
They include discussions with Jockeys, Trainers and Owners through the week, Post-Race interviews, Press conferences at major meetings and also Race Day Previews from our racing staff. All these emanate from racing right around the world.
This data service is provided for personal and entertainment purposes only. It must not be re-used for commercial purposes without the express consent of Racing and Sports.
Racing and Sports does not guarantee the accuracy of the information provided. While every effort has been made to ensure the data is correct at the time of publishing, Racing and Sports in no way endorses commercial decisions based upon it alone or accepts responsibility for the use thereof. It is the users responsibility to check/confirm with an alternative independent source.


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Mid–semester reviews approach next week for Arch 401 and Arch 403.
Last week you all participated in an oral communications workshop.
Today I would like to review and reinforce the ideas of preparing your speech.
Speech Outline
- Introduction
- Attention getter
- Orient your audience
- Central Idea – Purpose
- Body – remember broad to narrow specificity, and parallel structure for your speaking phrases
- Conclusion
- Summary
- Clincher
Let your drawings inform your outline. There should be an order to the drawings on the wall.
Remember that your audience is our faculty, maybe some invited guests, and your classmates. Include all of them.
Make eye contact as you speak, and smile once in a while.
Practice what you will say, even if it is in front of a mirror.
Good Luck.


text:
Weight Room
Got pump?
The athletic weight room offers a wide variety of free weights and multi-purpose machines that will give you the results you are looking for.
Aside from our Fitness Center equipment, the Weight Room offers:
- benches
- squat racks
- power clean/dead lift
- platforms
- kettle bells
- curl bars
- along with heavier dumbbells allow you to add variety to your workout!
There are currently no scheduled open hours for the weight room. Please see fitness center attendant for assistance.
Note: Hours are subject to change.
For a daily schedule of the weight room and student center, visit:
Davenport University Event Management System - EMS


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(hey mods, - this is basically a promotion post. Since it was for charity - I thought it might be appropriate for TRO. If I'm in error - please move it to the appropriate subforum)
Fainting Goat Games has (in conjunction with many other publishers) launched a Colorado Flood Relief Bundle. For $20 you get over $200 of RPG goodness (including products from Spectrum Games, Green Ronin, Pinnacle, Ad Infinitum Adventures, Zenith Studios, Harsh Realities and many more.) And all proceeds go to help the Red Cross' flood relief efforts in Colorado. Please give it a look and spread the word.
Just a few of the pdfs in the bundle include
M&M3e Heroes Handbook from Green Ronin
ICONS Super-Powered Roleplaying from Ad Infinitum Adventures
Capes, Cowls and Villains Fowl from Spectrum Games
Bulletproof Blues from Kalos Comics
Achtung! Cthulhu: Three Kings - Savage Worlds from Modiphius Entertainment
Broken Shield Core Rulebook from Chronicle City
Sixcess Core from Harsh Realities
Deadlands Reloaded: Blood Drive 1-Bad Times on the Goodnight from Pinnacle
Kaiser's Gate for Savage Worlds from Battlefield Press
and many, many more - including many 3rd party pdfs for M&M (including several of the Acts of Villainy and the jaw-droppingly beautiful Watchguard Sourcebook for M&M3e from Xion Studios)
Colorado Flood Relief Bundle - has a bunch of M&M pdfs
The only place to discuss Super-Powered by M&M products.
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Pedro Calderón de la Barca, (born January 17, 1600, Madrid, Spain—died May 25, 1681, Madrid), dramatist and poet who succeeded Lope de Vega as the greatest Spanish playwright of the Golden Age. Among his best-known secular dramas are El médico de su honra (1635; The Surgeon of His Honour), La vida es sueño (1635; Life Is a Dream), El alcalde de Zalamea (c. 1640; The Mayor of Zalamea), and La hija del aire (1653; "The Daughter of the Air"), sometimes considered his masterpiece. He also wrote operas and plays with religious or mythological themes.
Early life
Calderón's father, a fairly well-to-do government official who died in 1615, was a man of harsh and dictatorial temper. Strained family relations apparently had a profound effect on the youthful Calderón, for several of his plays show a preoccupation with the psychological and moral effects of unnatural family life, presenting anarchical behaviour directly traced to the abuse of paternal authority.
Destined for the church, Calderón matriculated at the University of Alcalá in 1614 but transferred a year later to Salamanca, where he continued his studies in arts, law, and probably theology until 1619 or 1620. Abandoning an ecclesiastical career, he entered the service of the constable of Castile and in 1623 began to write plays for the court, rapidly becoming the leading member of the small group of dramatic poets whom King Philip IV gathered around him. In 1636 the king made him a Knight of the Military Order of St. James. Calderón's popularity was not confined to the court, for these early plays were also acclaimed in the public theatres, and, on the death of Lope de Vega (1635), Calderón became the master of the Spanish stage. On the outbreak of the Catalan rebellion, he enlisted in 1640 in a cavalry company of knights of the military orders and served with distinction until 1642, when he was invalided out of the army. In 1645 he entered the service of the duque de Alba, probably as secretary. A few years later an illegitimate son was born to him; nothing is known about the mother, and the idea that sorrow at her death led him to return to his first vocation, the priesthood, is pure surmise. He was ordained in 1651 and announced that he would write no more for the stage. This intention he kept as regards the public theatres, but at the king's command he continued to write regularly for the court theatre. He also wrote each year the two Corpus Christi plays for Madrid. Appointed a prebendary of Toledo Cathedral, he took up residence in 1653. The fine meditative religious poem Psalle et sile ("Sing Psalms and Keep Silent") is of this period. Receiving permission to hold his prebend without residence, he returned to Madrid in 1657 and was appointed honorary chaplain to the king in 1663.
Aesthetic milieu and achievement
The court patronage that Calderón enjoyed constitutes the most important single influence in the development of his art.
The court drama grew out of the popular drama, and at first there was no distinction in themes and style between the two. The construction, however, of a special theatre in the new palace, the Buen Retiro, completed in 1633, made possible spectacular productions beyond the resources of the public stage. The court plays became a distinctive Baroque genre, combining drama with dancing, music, and the visual arts and departing from contemporary life into the world of classical mythology and ancient history. Thus Calderón, as court dramatist, became associated with the rise of opera in Spain. In 1648 he wrote El jardín de Falerina ("The Garden of Falerina"), the first of his zarzuelas, plays in two acts with alternating spoken and sung dialogue. In 1660 he wrote his first opera, the one-act La púrpura de la rosa ("The Purple of the Rose"), with all of the dialogue set to music. This was followed by Celos, aun del aire matan (1660; "Jealousy Even of the Air Can Kill"), an opera in three acts with music by Juan Hidalgo. As in the Italian tradition, the music was subordinate to the poetry, and all of Calderón's musical plays are poetic dramas in their own right.
Calderón's drama must be placed within the context of the court theatre, with its conscious development of an unrealistic and stylized art form. For two centuries after his death, his preeminence remained unchallenged, but the realistic canons of criticism that came to the fore toward the end of the 19th century produced a reaction in favour of the more "lifelike" drama of Lope de Vega. Calderón appeared mannered and conventional: the structure of his plots seemed contrived, his characters stiff and unconvincing, his verse often affected and rhetorical. Although he used technical devices and stylistic mannerisms that by constant repetition became conventional, Calderón remained sufficiently detached to make his characters, on occasion, poke fun at his own conventions. This detachment indicates a conception of art as a formal medium that employs its artistic devices so as to compress and abstract the externals of human life, the better to express its essentials.
In this direction, Calderón developed the dramatic form and conventions established by Lope de Vega, based on primacy of action over characterization, with unity in the theme rather than in the plot. He created a tightly knit structure of his own while leaving intact the formal framework of Lope's drama. From the start he manifested his technical skill by utilizing the characters and incidents of his plots in the development of a dominant idea. As his art matured, his plots became more complex and the action more constricted and compact. The creation of complex dramatic patterns in which the artistic effect arises from perception of the totality of the design through the inseparability of the parts is Calderón's greatest achievement as a craftsman. El pintor de su deshonra (c. 1645; The Painter of His Own Dishonor) and La cisma de Ingalaterra (c. 1627; "The Schism of England") are masterly examples of this technique, in which poetic imagery, characters, and action are subtly interconnected by dominant symbols that elucidate the significance of the theme. Although rhetorical devices typical of the Spanish Baroque style remained a feature of his diction, his verse developed away from excessive ornamentation toward a taut style compressed and controlled by a penetrating mind.
Secular plays
The difficulties that Calderón's art presents to the modern reader have tended to obscure the originality of his themes. Accepting the conventions of the comedy of intrigue, a favourite form on the Spanish stage, he used them for a fundamentally serious purpose. La dama duende (1629; The Phantom Lady) is a neat and lively example. In Casa con dos puertas, mala es de guardar (1629; "A House with Two Doors Is Difficult to Guard"), the intrigues of secret courtship and the disguises that it necessitates are so presented that the traditional seclusion of women on which these intrigues are based is shown to create social disorder by breeding enmity and endangering love and friendship. No siempre lo peor es cierto (c. 1640; "The Worst Is Not Always True") and No hay cosa como callar (1639; "Silence Is Golden") mark the peak of this development; although the conventions of comedy remain, the overtones are tragic. Both plays also implicitly criticize the accepted code of honour. Calderón's rejection of the rigid assumptions of the code of honour is evident also in his tragedies. In the famous El alcalde de Zalamea, the secrecy and the vengeance demanded by the code are rejected. This play also presents a powerful contrast between the aristocracy and the people: the degeneration of the aristocratic ideal is exposed, wealth is associated with manual labour, and honour is shown to be the consequence and prerogative of moral integrity regardless of class. Yet Calderón's humanity has been questioned in connection with El médico de su honra. The critics who allege that he approves of the murder of an innocent wife because honour demands it overlook the fact that the horror one feels at this deed is precisely what he intended.
A keynote of Calderon's tragic view of life is his deep-seated realization that a man can be responsible through his own wrongdoing for the wrongdoing of another. This realization probably derives from Calderón's own family experience. In La devoción de la cruz (c. 1625; Devotion to the Cross) and Las tres justicias en una (c. 1637; Three Judgments at a Blow), the heart of the tragedy lies in the fact that the greatest sinner is also the most sinned against—in that others, before he was born, had begun to dig his grave. El pintor de su deshonra is built on a similar plot.
The fully developed court plays are best represented by La hija del aire. This play in two parts dramatizes the legend of Semiramis (the warrior queen of Babylon whose greed for political power led her to conceal and impersonate her son on his accession). It is often considered Calderón's masterpiece. Highly stylized, it conveys a strong impression of violence. It presents, with considerable complexity, the contrast between passion and reason. Passion, in its self-seeking, in its grasping for power and devouring of everything in the urge to domination, breeds disorder and leads to destruction; reason, in its sacrificing of self-interest to justice and loyalty, produces order. This basic contrast underlies the themes of Calderón's last period, its various aspects being expanded in a number of interesting variations, many directly concerned with the positive values of civilization. Though none has the intensity of La hija del aire, most exemplify a thoughtful, dignified, and restrained art. Mythological themes predominate, with a more or less allegorical treatment, as in Eco y Narciso (1661; "Echo and Narcissus"), La estatua de Prometeo (1669; "The Statue of Prometheus"), and Fieras afemina amor (1669; "Wild Beasts Are Tamed by Love").
Religious plays
Calderón's vision of the human world in his secular plays is one of confusion and discord arising out of the inevitable clash of values in the natural order. His religious plays round off his view of life by confronting natural values with supernatural ones. The most characteristic of these religious plays, following the tradition established outside Spain by the Jesuit drama, are based on stories of conversion and martyrdom, usually of the saints of the early church. One of the most beautiful is El príncipe constante (1629; The Constant Prince), which dramatizes the martyrdom of Prince Ferdinand of Portugal. El mágico prodigioso (1637; The Wonder-Working Magician) is a more complex religious play. Los dos amantes del cielo (The Two Lovers of Heaven) and El Joséf de las mujeres (c. 1640; "The Joseph of Womankind") are the most subtle and difficult. The basic human experience upon which Calderón relies for rational support of religious faith is decay and death and the consequent incapacity of the world to fulfill its promise of happiness. This promise is centred in such natural values as beauty, love, wealth, and power that, although true values if pursued with prudence, cannot satisfy the mind's aspiration for truth or the heart's longing for happiness. Only the apprehension of an "infinite Good" can assuage the restlessness of men.
This religious philosophy is given its most moving expression, in terms of Christian dogma, in the autos sacramentales. Seventy-six of these allegorical plays, written for open-air performance on the Feast of Corpus Christi, are extant. In them Calderón brought the tradition of the medieval morality play to a high degree of artistic perfection. The range of his scriptural, patristic, and scholastic learning, together with the assurance of his structural technique and poetic diction, enabled him to endow the abstract concepts of dogmatic and moral theology with convincing dramatic life. At their weakest the autos tend to depend for their effect upon the ingenuity of their allegories, but at their best they are imbued with profound moral and spiritual insight and with a poetic feeling varying from tenderness to forcefulness. La cena de Baltasar (c. 1630; Belshazzar's Feast) and El gran teatro del mundo (c. 1635; The Great Theatre of the World) are fine examples of Calderón's early style. The greater complexity of his middle period is represented by No hay más fortuna que Dios (c. 1652; "There Is No Fortune but God") and Lo que va del hombre a Dios (1652–57; "The Gulf Between Man and God"). But his highest achievement in this type of drama is to be found among those autos of his old age that dramatize the dogmas of the Fall and the redemption, notably La viña del Señor (1674; "The Lord's Vineyard"), La nave del mercader (1674; "The Merchant's Ship"), El nuevo hospicio de pobres (1675; "The New Hospital for the Poor"), El día mayor de los días (1678; "The Greatest Day of Days"), and El pastor fido (1678; "The Faithful Shepherd"). Here is found Calderón's most moving expression of his compassionate understanding of human waywardness.
To have found a dramatic form that conveys the doctrines of the Christian faith gives Calderón a special place in literature, but his greatness is not confined to this. The depth and consistency of his thought, his supremely intelligent craftsmanship and artistic integrity, his psychological insight, and the rationality and humanity of his moral standards make him one of the major figures of world drama.Alexander A. Parker
Learn More in these related Britannica articles:
Spain: Spain's Golden Age in literatureTirso de Molina, and Pedro Calderón de la Barca. As with the picaresque novel, the comedy of the Golden Age was concerned with the contemporary social scene. The psychological problems faced by its characters arose nearly always directly out of social conflicts. But the social purpose of these plays…
Western theatre: Spain's Golden Age…used to great advantage by Pedro Calderón de la Barca. Attached to the Spanish court, he was not under as much pressure as Lope to be prolifically inventive, yet he wrote nearly 200 plays. While lacking the sheer vigour of Lope's works, Calderón's plays are more refined and philosophical, even…
Spanish literature: The plays of CalderónPedro Calderón de la Barca adapted Lope de Vega's formula for producing tightly structured dramas wherein formal artistry and poetic texture combine with thematic profundity and unified dramatic purpose. One of the world's outstanding dramatists, Calderón wrote plays that were effective in both the public…
comedy: Divine comedies in the West and EastThe Spanish dramatist Pedro Calderón de la Barca's
Life Is a Dream(1635) is an example; on the operatic stage, so is Mozart's Magic Flute(1791), in spirit and form so like Shakespeare's Tempest, to which it has often been compared. In later drama, Henrik Ibsen's Little Eyolf…
auto sacramental…
autoswritten by the playwright Pedro Calderón de la Barca. Performed outdoors as part of the Corpus Christi feast day celebrations, autoswere short allegorical plays in verse dealing with some aspect of the mystery of the Holy Eucharist, which the feast of Corpus Christi solemnly celebrated. They derived from…
More About Pedro Calderón de la Barca5 references found in Britannica articles
Assorted References
- auto sacramental
- comedy
- Golden Age
- Spanish literature
- theatre


text: You say "toe-may-toe", and I say "toe-mah-toe"–but we all say "Hooray!" because tomato season has arrived here in Oceana County! Our vine-ripened tomatoes are now available at our market. Just a tip–the very ripest ones get snagged right away, so pick up some today for this weekend's BLTs, and let them get that much riper on your counter at home. Oh, boy, we've been waiting for this farm fresh flavor!


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Boehner declares fiscal cliff impasse
Speaker John Boehner declared an impasse Friday in negotiations with the White House over avoiding the fiscal cliff that's just 32 days away.
"There's a stalemate," Boehner said at a news conference in the Capitol. "Let's not kid ourselves. I'm not trying to make this more difficult. If you've watched me over the last three weeks, I've been very guarded in what I have to say because I don't want to make it harder for me or the president, or members of both parties to find common ground."
Story Continued Below
Discussions, he said, are "almost nowhere."
It's the second day in a row that Boehner has cast doubt on the negotiations to avoid tax increases and massive spending cuts. It came just after President Barack Obama toured a Pennsylvania toy factory, urging Congress to forgo low tax rates for the wealthy and pass an extension of middle-income tax rates.
The major sticking points remain the same: Congressional Democrats want to raise tax rates on the highest income earners, while keeping the current lower rates in place for the middle class. Republicans want to extend rates for taxpayers at all levels.
Both sides say they're willing to cut spending, but Boehner says the White House's proposal — delivered by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner to Capitol Hill Thursday — doesn't cut spending nearly enough.
He dubbed their opening offer "not a serious proposal." And rate increases, the speaker said, are the "wrong approach."
As Democrats hammer Republicans for being vague about entitlement changes, Republicans are starting to respond. Boehner and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) separately discussed the kinds of tweaks to these programs they want.
Boehner, in his press conference, pointed to the GOP's budget over the past two years for ideas of what they're seeking on entitlement changes.
"There have been discussions about many of those same issues this time," Boehner said. "So there's a lot from the conversations that we've had to inform almost anybody the kind of proposals that we're looking for."
In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, McConnell said Republicans would offer more revenue if Obama allows for means testing of Medicare recipients and increases the eligibility age or slows payment increases for Social Security.
Meanwhile, House Minority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), who supports the wealthy paying a higher tax rate, said he is not stuck on returning the level to 39.6 percent, where it stood before 2001.
"I want the math to work," Hoyer told reporters. "If the math works at 39, if it works at 38.6, if it works at some other figure along with the cuts that you've imposed, then I can support that. But I want to support something where the math demonstrably works."


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I recently ran into an interesting issue at a customer organization. This customer is in the process of transitioning to Disciplined Agile Delivery (DAD) and part of that effort is to train, mentor, and coach their people in these new ideas and techniques. The challenge is that some of "their people" are full time employees (FTEs) and some are contractors/consultants. When we were planning an upcoming DAD workshop with them, part of the planning effort was to identify who should get that training, which we're delivering in a just-in-time (JIT) basis on a team-by-team basis. The only people invited to take the training were FTEs because the customer has a policy of not training contractors. I pushed back a bit on this, but they were adamant about not training contractors because their view was that contractors should either have the skills required to do their jobs or be willing to get those skills on their own time. Fair enough, but from an agile team building point of view this isn't ideal.
This situation got me thinking a bit. One issue is that not all contractors are the same. Some are short term contractors that are brought in for a specific purpose, they're paid well, and then they move on. Other contractors stay much longer, sometimes months or even years, and as a result gain deeper knowledge and understanding of your business. For these longer term contractors it seems to me that there is little difference between them and FTEs, perhaps only in the way that they're remunerated. Some countries such as the United States now have laws in place limiting how long someone is allowed to remain a contractor because these similarities lead to interesting legal questions around extending benefits to them.
Another issue is that if you intend to build teams from both FTEs and contractors, it behooves you to ensure that these people get similar training, coaching and mentoring to streamline the transition effort.
Here's the logic I would suggest to address the issue of whether or not to train a contractor:
- Is the contractor going to be assigned to a key project/product for the organization? If not, don't train them.
- Are they someone you want to keep long term? If not, don't train them and consider not putting them on the new agile team at all.
- Does the contractor work for a large service provider? If yes, ask the service provider to cover the costs of training.
- Is the contractor an independent or working for a smaller service provider? If yes, include the person in the training if there's room but don't pay their wage during the training period (so you effectively share the investment/cost of training).
As always, let the context of the situation drive your strategy.


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Citing serious mechanical issues, the owners of The Ice Rink at One Boulder Plaza announced today that the outdoor rink will not open in downtown Boulder this season.
In a news release, the rink's owners said that warm weather and mechanical difficulties forced them to push back the planned opening date this season from today until Nov. 24. However, the mechanical problems proved to be more substantial than first thought, and they cannot be resolved in time for the rink to open for its short, outdoor season, which typically runs from mid-November to mid-February, according to the release.
A return in 2014-2015 is not guaranteed.
"We hope to return for another season of skating in November of 2014, but we cannot predict with any certainty," rink co-owner Jerry Lee said in the news release. "There are too many unknowns surrounding the mechanical issues."
Updates about the rink's status are expected to be announced as soon as possible at Bouldericerink.com and on the rink's Twitter account and Facebook page.


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"Everybody thinks that zombies carry a virus that makes more zombies, but I think it's more like a prion," said a voice from the back of the car.
"Strange, but I don't think about zombies at all," I said.
"You aren't worried about a zombie apocalypse?" my over-imaginative kid asked.
"Let's just say that of all the ways an apocalypse could occur, a zombie invasion would be the least likely, statistically speaking. So, no, I'm not worried, but I'm pretty sure that's not going to stop you from completing your hypothesis on zombie infections... carry on, son.
"Well, even if it's not likely, it doesn't hurt to be prepared," he cautioned.
I rolled my eyes. "I wish you thought the same about a pop quiz in Geometry class."
While he digested that uncomfortable thought, I decided to open his rather narrow point of view.
"As long as we are talking about unlikely scenarios, why do you think nobody ever worries about a unicorn attack or a fairy take-over?"
"Probably because they're not scary," my son scoffed.
"Really? Are you saying that a flying horse with a giant horn sticking out the middle of his forehead isn't scary?"
It was his turn to roll his eyes. "Unicorns don't fly, Mom. Pegasus flies, but it doesn't have a horn."
Pushing the envelope, I suggested, "Maybe my unicorn has wings because it had a Pegasus mommy and a unicorn daddy."
"Oh brother. At least zombies are believable."
"My flying unicorns could wipe the floor with your zombies," I said. "You should be afraid. Be very afraid." I made a ghoulish face.
Silence finally reigned as this bit of ridiculousness was absorbed.
Minutes later he asked, "So why aren't unicorns called unihorns?"
"I don't know. I wasn't around when they made that call. Why don't you ask why we have names for things that don't exist?"
"Because it's fun to pretend they do exist," he insisted.
"What? Is it fun to imagine death and destruction at the hands -- and feet -- of out-of-control dead people that need to eat people's brains?"
Here is when logic flew right out the window.
"Well, they need to survive, don't they?" my soon-to-be Biology major asked.
"Unless I failed Zombie 101, I believe surviving means to stay alive, and they are clearly not alive, so what is the point of a rampage?"
Stepping firmly on the side of the rampaging zombies he said, "Think of it as a protest for the undead."
"What exactly are they protesting?"
"Being dead, I guess."
"Well, I guess I can't blame them for that, but you'd think they could find more constructive ways to protest. Maybe a sit-down strike at the local cemetery, or something."
"That would be good, but they'd still have to eat."
"True. And it's not like you could cater that event, huh?"
This, my dear readers, is how to build a solid relationship with your teenager. You merely have to learn to speak their language and put all thoughts of rationality and non-fiction aside.
Take a ride on the wild side: Have a conversation with your teenager.
Laura Snyder is a nationally syndicated columnist, author & speaker. You can reach Laura at firstname.lastname@example.com Or visit her website www.lauraonlife.com for more info.
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