Bear Creek Should Place A Bid

Colorado snow for sale on Ebay.

Ms Emily Goes To The Movies

Review by Emily Trosprel
9th Grade BHHS Senior Entertainment Editor

Night At The Museum

It’s common knowledge that being a great family film isn’t exactly the equivalent of good filmmaking. “Night at the Museum” is certainly the former, but don’t go to the theater looking for anything other then a little less then two hours of some moralistic, mildly charming entertainment. Divorced dad Larry Daley (Ben Stiller), tired of constantly disappointing his son with evictions and less then stable careers, decides to take a more long term job as a night guard at New York’s Museum of Natural History. He meets the old guards he’s replacing (played by Dick Van Dyke, Mickey Rooney, and Bill Cobbs; no one will ever say the film has a mediocre cast), is handed keys and a flashlight, and set on his way for his first night keeping watch over the silent and desolate museum. Of course shortly into Larry’s post he discovers that the museum is anything but desolate. As he walks through the halls all of the sudden the skeleton of a T-rex charges him, miniature Roman soldiers shoot flaming arrows, and a previously stuffed monkey steals his keys. The entire museum comes to life! Oh my! (So, why does it come to life? It’s because of an enchanted Egyptian tablet, just go with the flow.) Watching Larry run from the artificial beasts takes up the bulk of the film, but some plot is actually put into the movie when the tablet is stolen and Larry must help retrieve it or let the museum face the fate of never breathing with life at night again.

Don’t expect much from the generic first twenty minutes or so of “Night at the Museum” for like the exhibits themselves, the movie doesn’t come to life until Larry’s first night on the job when the digital creatures run amuck. If only special effects could make up for writing and cinematography then the movie would be all set, for there is an ample supply of some truly top-notch ones present here. A T-rex that acts like a puppy and plays fetch is sure to entrance the younger kids in the audience. One feature that thankfully doesn’t need to be made up for in the film is acting. We aren’t talking about anything Oscar-winning, but a star-studded cast including Dick Van Dyke, Robin Williams, and Ben Stiller himself make the overall performances better then the ones in your average kids flick. Anyone could nitpick endlessly at the plot holes, undeveloped characters, and stale, overused dialogue, but sometimes with a decent family film like “Night at the Museum” you just have to take it for what it is.

Two Out Of Four Stars for Night At The Museum.

Oh' My Aching Back

One of Time magazines best inventions of 2006 the human powered snow blower the Wovel
Be even more useful if it was a cold winter.

Math Humor For The Holidays

Have a good one

Happy Festivus

Festivus - The Festival For The Rest Of Us

The Origins of Festivus

Frank Costanza: Many Christmases ago, I went to buy a doll for my son. I reached for the last one they had, but so did another man. As I rained blows upon him, I realized there had to be another way.

Cosmo Kramer: What happened to the doll?

Frank Costanza: It was destroyed. But out of that a new holiday was born: a Festivus for the rest of us!

Cosmo Kramer: That must've been some kind of doll.

Frank Costanza: She was.

So You Want To Be A Horologist

You are in luck Rolex has started a school in Lititz, PA to teach the craft of watchmaking to a new generation more familar with digital electronic watches. the Technicum is housed in a Michael Graves-designed modern stone barn. The sun-filled interior contains the school's two classrooms, labs for waterproofing and cleaning, and a library. The stainless-steel cafeteria offers students espresso served in porcelain cups. The second floor houses a Rolex service center. More

Another Way To Avoid The Mall

REDMOND, Wash. — Dec. 13, 2006 — Ho, ho, ho! This year there is another way for kids to share Christmas wish lists with Santa Claus. Using Windows Live™ Messenger, parents can spend time with their kids chatting in real time with Santa online. Customers can simply add Santa’s address, Northpole@live.com, to their Windows Live Messenger contact list and instantly open a conversation window to communicate with Saint Nick. Kids will enjoy immediate responses from the jolly big man himself through an interactive online chat, and they can even visit Santa’s page on Windows Live Spaces at http://santaonspaces.spaces.live.com. Filling Santa in on Christmas wishes and asking all about how the reindeer are doing or what’s new at the North Pole are a few of the things kids can talk to Santa about. Santa can even tell kids where they stand on his list: naughty or nice.

Teddy bear? Check. Wrapping paper? Check. Our baby?

MIDLAND, Texas - A 3-month-old baby was left unattended in a shopping cart for about an hour Sunday when her parents accidentally left her behind, police said. Shoppers noticed the abandoned baby at a Toys "R" Us store, Midland police Sgt. Alfredo Grimaldo said.

"It was a misunderstanding among family members," Grimaldo said in Monday editions of the Midland Reporter-Telegram. "One man took the kids home and left the ladies to shop. But when he took the kids, he didn't take the baby from the cart."

The family members, who were traveling in different cars, didn't realize what happened until they all got home and nobody had the baby, he said.

"We don't think it was really a child abandonment issue. It was just a misunderstanding," Grimaldo said.

Police spokeswoman Tina Jauz said Child Protective Services is looking into the case.

U.S. Largest Cash Crop

The largest cash crop in the U.S. is grown without any needs of federal subsidies and no help from state or federal Department of Agriculture. In fact governments spend billions trying to eradicate it.

A report released today by a marijuana public policy analyst contends that the market value of pot produced in the U.S. exceeds $35 billion — far more than the crop value of such heartland staples as corn, soybeans and hay, which are the top three legal cash crops. The largest producer of cannabis is California which helps explain a lot. Article

Public Schools Need A Do-Over

Instead of adding satellite radios,GPS guidance systems and hydrogen fuel cell engines to a Model-T ending up with a high price piece of worn out junk, yet another blue ribbon commission concluded the whole public school system should be completely redesigned for the needs of the 21st century. With all the vested interest in the current system all the recommendations should be in place sometimes in the 22nd century. Article

Great Performance

Thanks to the entire music department for a wonderful Christmas concert aimed at the senior citizens residing in the district. Also to the staff, students and parents that furnished food and drink for the reception afterwards.

Festival Of Carols For Senior Citizens

All Senior Citizens are cordially invited to attend the Festival of Carols at Brandywine Heights High School Auditorium Friday, December, 15th at 2:30. Tickets are not required.

This is the 20th year of our beautifully performed concert, featuring Brandywine Heights Concert Band, flag and majorettes, vocal ensembles, vocal jazz groups, vocal and instrumental soloists. Come experience the beauty of the holidays through music.

Reception following. Admission is free.

Surprise Concert

Nice story in today Reading Eagle on a surprise concert the Exeter Band gave outside the home of their band director James Seidel recovering from knee surgery.

Rohrbach and co-drum major Brett A. Detweiler directed from the sidewalk.

“We've never snuck up on anyone before,” Detweiler said.

....

He said Thursday's surprise reinforced his choice of career.

“Sometimes you wonder, ‘Have you made a difference?' ” Seidel said. “It makes you realize that teaching is a noble profession.”

Porn Queen Barbie

Something is wrong when FAO Schwarz resembles a minature Victoria Secret.

Just feet from the Etch-A-Sketches and paint-by-numbers were dolls dressed in garter belts, bustiers, fishnet stockings and high heels. "Ella" was in a teddy; "Justine" in an evening gown with her breasts overflowing. Cleavage and lingerie were the order of the day.As small children filed by, I felt myself panicking, wanting to cover their eyes or steer them away, as if they were going to be exposed to something they weren't meant to see. Never mind that they were the target audience for these hyper-sexualized dolls. I was, after all, in a toy store. More with Pixs

The Good Book Business

The New Yorker has a fascinating article on the economics and trends of Bible publishing.

The familiar observation that the Bible is the best-selling book of all time obscures a more startling fact: the Bible is the best-selling book of the year, every year. Calculating how many Bibles are sold in the United States is a virtually impossible task, but a conservative estimate is that in 2005 Americans purchased some twenty-five million Bibles—twice as many as the most recent Harry Potter book. The amount spent annually on Bibles has been put at more than half a billion dollars.

In the past few years publishing companies have branched out from the standard leather bound King James version of 1601 to many different types of translations and now Biblezines to compete with magazines aim at specific markets like teenage girls.

Have you ever had a white stain appear underneath the arms of your favorite dark blouse? Don’t freak out. You can quickly give deodorant spots the boot. Just grab a spare toothbrush, dampen with a little water and liquid soap, and gently scrub until the stain fades away. As you wash away the stain, praise God for cleansing us from all the wrong things we have done. (1 John 1:9)

Seems Well Qualified To Be POTUS

Cooper City High School's senior class president was arrested Tuesday and charged in a grade-tampering scandal that has rocked the campus.

Ryan C. Shrouder, 18, of Cooper City, was taken to jail from school and charged with two counts of computer crime with intent to defraud, a second-degree felony, according to a Broward Sheriff's Office report. He was released from jail on bail, has been suspended from school and will be recommended for expulsion, said Joe Melita, head of the Broward County School District's investigative unit.

"To charge a kid with a computer crime is absurd," said Fort Lauderdale attorney Fred Haddad. "There's plenty of ways to handle this besides charging a felony."

Shrouder had been elected leader of his sophomore, junior and senior classes at Cooper City High and recently was voted "most likely to be president" of the United States. More

If You Gotta Go You Gotta Go

When rules and reality collide

SALISBURY, Md. -- School officials are deciding the fate of a Maryland teacher at Salisbury Middle School who instructed three boys who needed a bathroom break to urinate into a soda bottle.Wicomico County school policy requires eighth-graders to be escorted to the restroom, and the teacher suggested the bottle Friday when an escort was not available. The teacher did not want to leave the entire class unsupervised. A parent said the bathroom rules are too strict. "I'm a retired correctional officer and we didn't run things like this," he said.

Meanwhile In SC

CHARLESTON, S.C. -- A South Carolina fifth-grade teacher allowed five students -- a boy and four girls -- to use a trash can as a toilet during a school lockdown drill when nobody was supposed to leave the classroom. Philip Frandino gave the Charlestowne Academy students permission to use the trash can Tuesday. Three students held up jackets to shield the view while other students stood on the opposite wall with their backs turned.

Why Teens Do Stupid Things

A common misconception is that teens take risk because they either don't consider the risk or think they are invulnerable. New research shows that teens actually take more time in risk analysis then adults, even overestimating the risk. They just allow the benefits of immediate gratification or peer acceptance win out.

The findings on teenagers imply that interventions that use risk data regarding smoking or unprotected sex, for example, may actually backfire if young people overestimate their risks anyway. Instead, interventions should help young people develop "gist-based" thinking [the essence of their actions] in which dangerous risks are categorically avoided rather than weighed in a rational, deliberative way. More

Obvious

Scientist discover how Santa Claus performs what once was considered a miracle.

Larry Silverberg, a US professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, says he gets the job done using electromagnetic waves, computer science, nanotechnology, genetic engineering and the space-time continuum.

When Kindergartners Go Bad

Just have to nip it in the bud.

When a Bellmead father received a letter from his son's school district saying the 4-year-old had inappropriately touched a teacher's aide, he said he couldn't believe what he was reading.

"When I got that letter, my world flipped," DaMarcus Blackwell said.

The Nov. 13 letter from La Vega Independent School District stated his son, who was 4 years old at the time, was involved in "inappropriate physical behavior interpreted as sexual contact and/or sexual harassment" after the boy hugged a teacher's aide and "rubbed his face in the chest of (the) female employee" on Nov. 10.

The letter also stated Blackwell's son, who Blackwell requested not be named in this story for privacy reasons, spent the day in in-school suspension (ISS) as punishment for the incident. Article

E-Trees are sprouting up

An alternative to the artifical tree or going out into the freeing Big Room in a quest for the perfect Christmas tree, is just a google and a couple of clicks. Within 5 days a tree will be at your font door.

Discusssions On Special And Gifted Education

This week the State Board of Education began the first of a series of roundtable sessions to hear comment on issues related to special education and gifted education. The board is inviting public comment as it begins work to jointly review regulations under Chapter 14 for special education and Chapter 16 for gifted education. In conjunction with this process, the Department of Education will follow the same time schedule for revising standards under Chapter 711, Charter School Services and Programs for Children with Disabilities.

The State Board’s Standing Committee for Special Education will work with staff from PDE’s Bureau of Special Education on the review. The U.S. Department of Education has indicated that states should be in compliance with the new federal special education regulations by June 30, 2007. That would require the State Board to have its proposal in place by that time. The federal regulations became effective on Oct. 13.

Pre-K Counts

The Pennsylvania Departments of Education and Public Welfare are continuing work on their early childhood education initiative known as Pre-K Counts. The initiative, formerly known as the Partnership for Quality Pre-Kindergarten, is a program that has been designed to advance the work of early education and care in Pennsylvania through the creation of community-based collaborative pre-kindergarten programs. Funds are provided to school districts to expand quality pre-kindergarten throughout the state and to support their relationships with early education practitioners in their communities and to develop public engagement strategies that promote early learning. Pre-K Counts was started in 2004 as a three-year pilot effort to improve early education across the state. Thirty-one pilot school districts were competitively selected for their work with at-risk children and their interest in building the capacity of pre-kindergarten in their communities. The school districts are working in 27 partnerships with Head Start, high quality childcare providers and early intervention to deliver pre-k in a range of settings. Funding for the Pre-K Counts initiative is from both private and public sector philanthropic contributions. For more information, contact Pre-K Counts at 717-213-2070.

What Did They Expect Would Happen?

In a case of too much money and not enough sense a 4 year old was mauled by a cougar at the home of the president of Goya Foods. The entertainment for a children's birthday party was a visit from Wild Animal World. What part of "wild" didn't they understand? The 4 year old surprised the uncaged cougar from behind and true to form the declawed cat seized the child's head with its teeth. Article

Game Sales In Germany Could be Lower This Christmas

The German Minister of Interior has proposed jail time for creating and distributing game content which features “cruel or otherwise inhumane acts of violence against humans or humanlike creatures.” He has also recommended jail time for players as well. This is in reaction to a school shooting by a Counter-strike player.

Must be the games since Germany has never had any history of violence before video games were introduced.

Tasty Treats

Skip the ordinary holiday foods embrace deep-frying. A collection of 14 savory and sweet dishes cooked in hot lard including: spaghetti and meat balls, twinkies, cheeseburgers,oreos and always a crowd favorite cicadas.

Is Cursive Writing Dead

Does anyone past 4th grade write in "real writing" anymore? If you do can anyone under 50 even read writing? Soon the last vestige, your signature will be outdated. Article

Reads Like the Plot Of A Prison Movie

In West Virginia a principal tried to coerce a student into joining his secret "Narc Unit". When the student turned down the kind offer to hang around parking lots and bathrooms informing on his friends, he was given a 10 day suspension. Family has filed a lawsuit against the principal and the school board. More

Help Explain This

Over on E-Bay someone paid $22.00 plus $2.99 S&H for a $20.00 gift certificate from Old Navy. I know people catch auction fever but this is a little much. Just think some company gave them a credit card.

Computer Wins Tournament

Carbon based intelligence last great hope went down to defeat in the final sixth came of the World Chess Challenge 2006 Final score Vladimir Krammik was 0 wins, 2 losses and 4 ties against Deep Fritz.

Tax Committee

The tax committee recommended a 1% personal income tax to offset a refund of property taxes. The board will vote on placing this on the May ballot at a later date.

After all the dust settles the Harrisburg mandated shell game will reduce property owner property taxes reduced around $700. The PIT will cause the average person in this district earning $50,000/year an additional $500. If you earn $70,000 you are just taking it out of one pocket and putting it in another. If your family makes over $70,000 your taxes are going up.

Act 1 does very little for the property owner, an increase in taxes for others and causes the school district additional work and uncertainty. At least they can now claim they solved the property tax issue and get back to building casinos for their buddies.

Even Santa Has A Support Group

The AORBS Amalgamated Order of Real Bearded Santas and yes they have a web site.

"If you have more hair care products in your shower than your wife, you might be a Santa," said Tim Connaghan, executive director of the Amalgamated Organization of Real Bearded Santas, or AORBS, who answers his telephone with a hearty "ho, ho, ho."

His group gives educational and emotional support to about 1,000 Santas around the country who frequently discuss how to keep their hair white and where to have it groomed. While not all men can grow a natural beard, those who can take pride in their wizened locks.

Business is booming in malls across America, especially for Santas with real beards who can pass for Edmund Gwenn, the star of the 1947 Christmas movie classic "Miracle on 34th Street." More

For The New Dad On Your Gift List

Real Men Do Change Diapers if they can carry them in a bag made from tractor tires.

NEW YORK (Reuters Life!) - A U.S. handbag manufacturer is trying to make changing diapers a bit more macho -- with a baby bag made from truck and tractor tire inner tubes. Richmond, Virginia based Passchal has designed a "Dad's baby bag" made from recycled inner tubes, trimmed with hemp, and fitted with a battery operated light to help locate that soother somewhere at the bottom of the bag.

Tax Committee Report Tonight

The committee will give a report at 6:30pm in the MS auditorium on their recommendations. The board will vote at a later date to put their recommendations on the May ballot. There was a letter to the editor in the Reading Eagle concerning Tulpehocken recommedations last Tuesday. In case you didn't see the letter it does clarify some of the issues.

I wish to respond to Rebecca VanderMeulen’s article regarding the recommendations of the Tulpehocken School District’s tax study commissions (“Tulpehocken panel recommends tax shift” Reading Eagle, Nov. 21).

The commissions are not assigned the task and do not have the power to recommend or not recommend a tax shift. School boards must put a question on the May primary ballot for voters to approve or disapprove an increase in income taxes in order to offset property taxes.

Therefore a commission that otherwise would have preferred to recommend that no shift be made — that no such question go on the ballot — must come up with an alternative, less palatable solution no matter what.

Tulpehocken’s commission did not plan to recommend a tax increase or tax shift to the school board on Tuesday. The commission planned to recommend the ballot question ask whether the voters wish to increase income taxes by the minimum amount allowed by law or not at all.

I believe Act 1 is a bad law. It does not provide for tax relief. It provides for a tax shift that, if approved, will cause the vast majority of taxpayers to pay more to benefit a few. I hope the voters will recognize this and vote no.

H. Daniel Degler Jr.
Penn Township

Editor’s note: H. Daniel Degler Jr. is vice chairman of the Tulpehocken School District’s tax study commission.

Bus Routes

There is criticism every year about the bus routes and how some are too long, some have too many kids, some too few. Well if you have some time over the winter you can sit down solve this problem and win a million dollars.

THE TRAVELING SALESMAN

Think of this as the "Willy Loman" problem or, in light of the greeting-card blizzard of the holiday season, the mailman's dilemma.

A mailman (or Mr. Loman) is assigned to hit every house in a given city. If we know how long it takes to go from house to house, is it possible to determine the most time-efficient route? Intrepid explorers often look at all possible routes, then select the shortest. For a city with just two houses, the task is easy—there are two routes. For a city with four houses, 24 possible routes exist (4 x 3 x 2 x 1 = 24). Of these 24, it should be easy to determine the best route. But for a city with 20 houses, our mailman would have to examine roughly 2,432,902,008,000,000,000 (2.4 billion billion) different routes and would be better off just going mailbox to mailbox haphazardly. Calculating a route for a city of any real size—say, one with tens of thousands of houses—would stymie the most sophisticated computer in the world. Can anyone write a program that can find the most efficient solution? An answer to this question, a classic in the field of computational complexity theory, will net its finder a million dollars from the Clay.

If this one doesn't appeal to you try solving one of these other million dollar math problems.

Since Germans Quit Having Children

Plans have been suggested to build a new playground - not for children, but for elderly people. The authorities in the city of Nuremberg are hoping to get enough funding for a playground tailored to suit the needs of the elderly.
Germany has one of the lowest birth rates in Europe - with an ever growing number of pensioners, experts have often warned that a demographic crisis is looming in the not too distant future.

Geek Check

Never too young or to old to learn practical physics. Stephen Hawkins tried to simplify it but didn't realize how dumb some of us are with his The Illustrated Brief History of Time and how his simplified version makes our head hurt. Leaving us a bit like the scenes at the end of Quest for Fire when the Paleolithic tribesmen finally build a fire and sit there silently mesmerized by the flames appreciating but not understanding.

Now there is a book for the rest of us:The Physcis of SuperHeroes. Now you can discuss with an eight year really imporant scientific ideas like:

• why Superman can jump tall buildings but not pick up a ship or a building. He is strong enough but they aren't they would crumble under their own weight.
• The Flash would have to eat 150 million hamburgers to run as fast as he does. If he stopped running, he'd have to eat another 150 million just to get started again.
  
• However the Flash could run on water. At such high speeds the water would act like a solid because its molecules can't move out from under his feet fast enough for him to sink before he's gone.

Fun For Young And Old

Waste some time and tease your brain with a Froggy Brainteaser.

People Who Don't Know How To Have Fun

W.A.T.C.H. World Against Toys Causing Harm has issued their yearly list of 10 worst toys to take all the fun out of Christmas. They are concerned about a rubber tip bow and arrow set because the rubber tip can be removed.Well if you also give your kid a nice pocket knife the tips can come off and the ends of the arrows sharpened for a fun game of hamster hunting. They ended their criticism with "Weaponry should not be sold as toys for children.". Guess they wouldn't care for the perfect toy "A Genuine Red Ryder 200 shot Carbine Air Action Rifle With A Compass in the Stock."

The warning for Fear Factor pouches looks especially weak.

"These "Fear Factor" pouches containing "spine-chilling spiders", "mystery meat", and a "buzzard buffet", pose a "candy challenge" to children, asking: "[I]s fear a factor for you?" The grotesque buffet, available in the toy aisle, is based upon the television series which sometimes features contestants competing to eat as much as possible in the shortest time. Toy aisles should not be used to encourage food-eating competitions, which invite potential choking and ingestion injuries, particularly for young children."

Its Nearly Christmas and you have way too much money

All the web sites,stores,catalogs for gifts just the same old, same old. Well out in San Francisco they have improved the pogo stick. Vurtego Products sells for a mere $380 one that will launch the lucky person on your list up to 8 feet in the air. You might want to include a large prepaid card for visits to the E.R. till they get the hang of it. SF Gate has more on the gift that will have you jumping for joy.