Despite a few moments of predictability, a solidly entertaining and touching story can be found in Disney’s film “Eight Below”. It is the tale of eight dogs that are left below in Antarctica (hence the title) after an incoming early winter storm and injured man force Antarctic scientists to abandon the camp in a helicopter that can’t support any more weight. Survival guide Jerry Shepard (Paul Walker) only deserts his beloved sled team after reassurances from pilot Katie (Moon Bloodgood) that she will return to retrieve the dogs as soon as possible. As it happens, the storm gets worse, and that as soon as possible turns out to be next spring. For over 150 days, the dogs must fend for themselves.

Walker’s performance may be one-note, but it hardly matters for the dogs are the real stars and rightfully so. One particular scene even belongs to a monstrous leopard seal whose startling appearance is sure to make anyone jump in their seats. Director Frank Marshall makes sure that the gorgeous snowy scenery is taken full advantage of, and the effect is dazzling (although, the film was actually shot in Canada, not Antarctica). “Eight Below” is a less tragic version of the true story, yet still tear-jerking enough to bring a lump to the throat of any dog lover.

Three out of four stars for Eight Below

Books About Cold Dogs

Buy them new not much of a cut on a $.25 book or better yet forget about reading and buy the audio version.

PINEROLO, Italy (AP) - The men's bronze medal match Friday was interrupted
by a streaker. Midway through the United States' 8-6 win over Britain, a man
wearing what appeared to be a strategically placed rubber chicken ran onto one
of the covered sheets of ice not being used in that session.
He danced around for a bit but never tried to approach any of the players.
Curlers probably feel a little safer than most athletes - it's hard for intruders to run
across ice, especially if they're naked. John sister said he never felt in
danger. "Olympic securities been amazing here," he said. "We weren't worried
at all." A couple of security officials from the venue hovered near the
striker for several seconds before finally covering him and leading him
away.

HERSHEY To fully enjoy the a smooth ride to victory, you have to endure a
few bumps along the way. After an undefeated regular season, Brandywine
Heights hit some ruts with an upset loss to Delone Catholic in the District 3-AA
Team Tournament and a second-place finish to Hamburg last week in the 3-AA
Section III Tournament. But the Bullets are gliding again after winning the
Class AA team title Saturday night in the District 3 Tournament at Hersheypark
Arena. Matt Yocco and Greg Lapp won individual titles to help Brandywine
dethrone two-time defending champion Bermudian Springs 147.5-139.5.
Â?The kids were really up for this,Â? Brandywine coach Sam Lovello said. Â?We just had
to perform. We thought we should have won the district team title.Â?
Instead, Brandywine won its first 3-AA tournament title since 2001 and advanced seven
wrestlers to the Southeast Regional Tournament Friday and Saturday at
Wilson

• Children who attend full-day kindergarten have higher conduct marks on report cards in the primary grades than do children who attend for a half day.
• There is no difference in the school attitudes of self-concept of children who attend full- or half-day kindergarten.
• Full-day kindergarten has no significant impact on promotion or nonpromotion of children
• Children who attend full-day kindergarten when compared to children who attend half-day kindergarten consistently have higher achievement test scores in all areas tested except handwriting. The children who attend half-day kindergarten have significantly higher handwriting test scores. All other areas have significantly higher total test scores in favor of full-day kindergarten.
• Children who attend full-day kindergarten have higher report card academic marks in both the primary and middle school years.
• There is no significant difference in participation in middle school extracurricular activities between children who attend full- or half-day kindergarten.
• The percent of children who attend public school kindergarten increases with the availability of full-day kindergarten.

Ok why does full day kindergarten hurt a child handwriting or does full day kindergarten turn them into itty bitty doctors.

Germans can be grumpy, unpleasant people—and it's not because of post-Nazi
guilt or a diet filled with bratwurst, says one American researcher. It's
because of their vowels. Hope College psychology professor David Myers says
saying a vowel with an umlaut forces a speaker to turn down his mouth in a
frown, and may induce the sadness associated with the facial expression. Myers
added that the English sounds of "e" and "ah" naturally create smile-like
expressions and may induce happiness. Link

Would you rather pay $10 and have free shipping or pay $5 and pay $6 for
shipping? Answer: you prefer the latter. Well, at least if you are
like most bidders on eBay.

" Your feedback is a valuable step in our continued evolution.Please use the
link on the right side of the page to visit our PA Ski & Ride.com Forum.
Give us your feedback and participate in an online
survey or email us at skibearcreek@skibearcreek.com to
help guide our development."

HOUSTON (AP) -- A student slides a tray toward the cafeteria cash register with a healthy selection: a pint of milk, green beans, whipped sweet potatoes and chicken nuggets - baked, not fried. But then he adds a fudge
brownie. When he punches in his code for the prepaid account his parents set
up, a warning sounds: "This student has a food restriction." Back goes the brownie as the cashier reminds him that his parents have declared all desserts off-limits.

Primero Food Service Solutions, developed by Houston-based Cybersoft
Technologies, allows parents to set up prepaid lunch accounts so children don't
have to carry money, said Ray Barger, Cybersoft's director of sales and
marketing. It also shows the cashier any food allergies or parent-set diet
restrictions for his or her account, and the student is not allowed to buy an
offending item.Parents also can go online to track their child's eating
habits and make changes. Article

If you lock your keys in the car and the spare keys are at home,call
someone on your (or someone else's) cell phone. Hold your cell phone about a
foot from your car door and have the other person at your home press the
unlock button of your key fob (clicker), holding it near the phone on their end.
Your car doors will unlock. Saves someone from having to drive your keys to
you. Distance is no object you could be hundreds of miles away, and if you
can reach someone who has the other "remote" for your car, you can unlock
the doors (or the trunk!).

You're Never Too Old for Dodgeball
By ROBIN HINDERY
NEW YORK (AP) - Some 36-year-olds hit the golf course to unwind; Pearl Lin prefers fine-tuning his back flip.

Less than a year ago, Lin, a New York City boutique owner who had no
childhood gymnastics training, could barely master a forward roll. Now, he's
defying gravity and his biological clock. Whether reviving a childhood passion or following the leads of their own children, more adults are stepping off the sidelines onto gym mats, playing fields and ice rinks. Small-town instructors and national sports organizations report a spike in adult
participation in sports generally dominated by kids.

"I used to go to the gym but it turned into a chore," said Daniel
Lewis, a 26-year-old New York University law student who attended a recent
gymnastics class with Lin at the Chelsea Piers recreation complex on Manhattan's
Hudson River shore. "With gymnastics, you're getting great exercise and also learning real skills."

"In 1877, Edison was trying to develop a machine that could transcribe telegraph
messages and play them back, without requiring a person to retype the message.
Realizing that the techniques he was developing might also be used to record
telephone messages, he sketched a diagram and handed it to one of his
assistants, who promptly built what would become the first device in history
capable of recording sound. Edison famously tested the machine by recording and
playing back the words to 'Mary had a little lamb.' Edison named the machine the
'phonograph,' from the Greek words for 'sound' and 'writing.' The first
phonograph was quite different from the record players we are familiar with: a
needle recorded sound on a tinfoil cylinder, and the same needle was used to
play back the sound. Edison immediately recognized many uses for his device,
including 'reproduction of music,' 'educational purposes' and 'dictation without
the aid of a stenographer' -- all of which he listed in his patent application
in late 1877. He was awarded patent number 200,521 on February 19, 1878."

Dear Dr. Fournier:
Every year my child does well during the semester,
but ever since he started having final exams, you wouldn't know it. He works
hard during the year and it hurts me to see all of that go to waste when he gets
his report card. He is now in the ninth grade, so the tension is worse than
ever. He is terrified of the exams that end each semester. He keeps saying he'll
never get into college.
THE ASSESSMENT
Today's students are under
increasing pressure not just to finish high school, but to do well and go on to
college. For a ninth grader tuned into this reality, the stress can be
overwhelming.
During the semester, students are instructed to study subjects
in "chunks," such as a chapter at a time, and then take a review test before
going on to the next chunk with an equal commitment of time and energy. While
studying a chunk at a time, students can use homework grades, quizzes and
projects to help raise their overall average. In other words, if a student
misses a section on a chapter test, he or she still has other grades to use as a
safety net.
The concept of "chunking" means that the student is expected to
explore a small amount of information completely, taking in knowledge of both
primary and secondary importance. For a chapter test, a student might cram facts
for short-term recall, following one basic rule: "I must know it all!"
Students tend to prepare for exams the same way they study for chapter
tests, exploring global views that link the chunks together. Without
establishing priorities within this "big picture," students are likely to resort
to a meaningless memorization of a quantity of information that is easily
forgotten before, during and _ most likely _ after the test.
Preparing for a
final exam requires a transition to a new rule: "I must weigh the importance of
the information because I cannot know it all!"
WHAT
TO DO

• No snow days, ok March can be a little iffy.
• Small heating bills.
• No little kids standing around in freezing weather.
• Plenty of daylight after school to enjoy outdoor activities.
• Less competition for winter jobs then summer ones with the college kids away.
• Vacation spots less crowded.
• Senior Skip Day could be held in decent weather.
• Don't have a school year being labeled 05/06 simply 06.
• For December graduates time to work and reflect before heading off to college.
• For some of the more popular colleges it is actually a lot easier to gain admittance in the spring semester then the fall.
• Some problems to be worked out for the winter sports but there is time to find a solution.

"Here is something I have learned from talking to parents the past 20 years. There are no good middle schools. Sure, many of those hormone-flooded
enclosures, usually reserved for pre-teens and early teens in grades five
(or six) to eight, have fine teachers and devoted principals. But that does
little for their reputations in the community. You expect public middle
schools to have image problems. But his malady extends to the most expensive
private schools in our wealthiest neighborhoods. Ask those parents for an
assessment and many will say, 'Well, it's a pretty good place, except for
the middle school.' Why is that? The behavioral outrages of early adolescence play a part. So does the modern practice of making middle school classes -- with the possible exception of mathematics -- not so demanding that the young scholars might foment open rebellion against the adult conspiracy that oppresses them."

This is a time in life that many adults recall as difficult if not
downright miserable. Matthews refers to middle schools as "hormone flooded
enclosures." Junior high school students grow at a faster rate than they have at
any time since infancy. Short attention spans, mood swings and what many parents
groaningly describe as "that attitude" accompany the physical changes.

We tend to have low expectations of middle school kids -- and they often meet those
expectations. "In some middle schools," says Mackinnon's report, "concern for
students' emotional and psychological needs overshadows expectations for high
achievement." But, she continues, "developmental concerns . . . must never be
allowed to justify a retreat from educational rigor, a rich and demanding
curriculum, or a belief in students' competence as learners.
....
So far neither the chancellor nor his education deputy, has made any public statements on how to improve middle schools. But many educators have ideas. Some borrow methods used in those middle schools that do manage to educate and engage youngsters in grades six through eight. Others argue the best solution to the problem with middle schools is to do away with them altogether.
...
Some educators say recommendations to improve existing schools do not go far enough. The middle school experiment has failed, they say -- and they are acting on this theory. Baltimore, for example, hopes to replace some conventional middle schools with schools offering kindergarten through 8.

Paul Vallas, the new chief executive of the Philadelphia schools, wants to phase out most of the city's middle schools and convert many schools with kindergarten through eighth grade. The state of Pennsylvania considers 34 of Philadelphia's 42 middle schools to be failing. "

Berks County school officials claim districts could save 10 percent to 30
percent on construction projects if they didn't have to pay the prevailing wage.
Prevailing wage is the hourly pay and fringe benefits that construction
workers receive on government projects. The state Department of Labor sets the
amount, which differs by county and by trade.

“If we did not have to pay prevailing wage, it would be a tremendous
savings,” said Dr. Nicholas J. Corbo, Exeter superintendent. “We could pass that
savings on to taxpayers.”
All government agencies must pay prevailing wage
for public projects. But Rep. Ronald Marsico, a Dauphin County Republican, plans
to attach an amendment to a bill to exempt school districts from that
requirement.
...
Frank Sirianni, president of the Pennsylvania State Building and
Construction Trade Council, said it would be a mistake for the state to change
the regulations.
Those rules, Sirianni said, were put in place to ensure
that Pennsylvania contractors were not undercut by out-of-state firms that could
bid low by paying cheaper wages.

...
Pennsylvania is one of 10 states that require schools to pay prevailing
wage. Statewide, the average hourly wage for electricians is $20.22, and it's
$19.75 for bricklayers. According to the labor department, bricklayers working
on the Wyomissing Junior/Senior High School expansion were paid $33.39 an hour,
and electrical workers received $38.91 an hour.

...
Article

Attendance will no longer be recorded on an individual basis. We now
realize that this district is composed of perfect parents raising perfect
children who are all way above average. Since every parent always knows the
where abouts of their children it would be redundant of the school to
record their attendance. If the Commonwealth of PA doesn't like it they can just
keep their money.

The following are a partial list of now valid excuses for not turning any
homework, project or not attending school at all.

• I couldn't do my homework because I had friends sleepover all weekend!
• What homework?
• I didn’t know we had homework!
• I forgot the assignment.
• I forgot my book.
• I left it at home (on the bus, at my friend’s, at school).
• I didn’t have a pencil (pen, paper, ruler, crayons, eraser, etc.).
• We had to go to the mall.
• We had to go shopping.
• We had to go to my grandmother’s (aunt’s, uncle’s, friend’s, neighbor’s)
  house.
• I had a game.
• I had practice.
• I had an AWAY game.
• I didn’t have time.
• I was busy playing outside.
• The dog (cat, baby, neighbor) ate it, wrecked it, lost it.
• I lost it in my room.
• My Dad forgot to put it in my bag.
• My Mom didn’t remind me.
• My mother wasn't home last night
• Went Skiing at Bear Creek
• Didn't wanna

Goes without saying that "I was at deer camp" is still valid as always. If a student that misses a test or an assignment they will be allowed to make it up at their convenience. If the student cannot find a convenient time they will be assigned a grade no less then 100%. No bonus points will be allowed unless the student or their parent feel that they would have received them had they taken the test.

If a student happens to be at school on the day a test is given or hands in an assignment at the prescribed time they will have 2.2% deducted from their grade because obliviously they are not from here and not the sharpest knife in the drawer.