Gosh, I don't remember where, but here's wikipedia (gasp!) on the subject: http://en.wikipedia....nd_of_stability

The Teaching Company's "Great Courses" lectures are often available at public libraries for checking out.

Totally agree with the above. I wonder if this was an unintended consequence? Also, from last year's report (which is free): So, if there's three months from application to decision, and each adcom at a public school gets to look at 981 applications, and spends an equal amount of time on each, for 40 hours a week for 12 weeks, that's 30 minutes per application.

First, it greatly strengthens any given atomic theory if the theory correctly predicts the properties of heretofore unknown before they are created. Secondly, I believe there is a predicted set of stable elements just past the heaviest ones yet created.

Have you looked at the Coffee Break Spanish podcasts?

I was kind of disappointed in Moonwalking with Einstein, because I'd really like to learn a better method to memorize poetry. Or any good method, really. Even though quick memorization of poetry was an event in the memory games, the book didn't present any good methods for memorizing verse. The author just said this is "hard". The methods he presents to memorize cards, lists of items and numbers didn't seem to generalize to literature.

The long term result of learning how to diagram sentences is not to be descriptive, but to be constructive. That is, once English grammar is fully understood and internalized, a writer can use it to generate better, clearer and more forceful writing. Learning grammar by diagramming is one of the best ways to do this.

Someone once told me that before you visit a place, reading a novel set there can give you more preparation for the real world experience than the obvious, big-picture things that a travel guide might tell. So, don't forget that literature can help here too. Dunno if your oldest is old enough for Dickens, but things like that might be a fun addition.

That's not cooking, that's, umm, assembling. Not that I'm beneath throwing something together under duress, but I wouldn't publish it as a recipe.

I'm not going to get worked up over what some school district is doing, but I do think that non-fiction, and especially "literary" non-fiction often gets short shrift. This is one reason I like SOTW -- it is well written, non-fiction, but in a literary way, that tells stories that resonate with kids. And while I have reservations about Malcolm Gladwell, I love the anecdote (and that's what he's best at), about learning to write in particular style by reading lots of examples of that style. This is why we memorize poetry and short fiction pieces here, to internalize examples of well written English. I think that adding a bit more non-fiction, even at the expense of some literary fiction is an OK thing, especially for kids who are voracious readers anyway. One of the many great little tidbits in WTM is the recommendation for each trip to the library to mandate a checkout of at least one book in each of several genres (wish I could remember them off the top of my head, but several are non-fiction). This PS mandate, though perhaps heavy-handed and overly strict, seems like a similar recommendation.

I'm no pronunciation expert, and I like "the other" pronunciation, but I've never heard soft c as "s". Now, "sc" isn't a soft c, and sounds mostly like "s" --is that what you are hearing? And, for the record, whichever pronunciation you choose, using it consistently makes spelling much, much easier.

I don't think any amount is typical, it varies tremendously from company to company and even based on the level of position within a company. I've heard of companies whose relocation package is solely a handshake, to all inclusive package that cover buying the old house if it won't sell, real-estate services, 6 months in company housing, and all moving expenses. However, what I would look at is whether relocation benefits are taxable. It may seem nice to be treated like a queen and have all your moving expenses paid for, but if you get hit with the federal + state taxes on what looks like an extra $20k of income, that could be an unhappy shock next year.

I think the greatest gift you could give her is to help her get any LDs diagnosed. If, for example, she's dyslexic, she can learn ways to adapt her learning (not just formal classroom learning, but all the informal everyday learning we all do), and give her self confidence that poor grades in the past weren't because she's inherently stupid, but because no one took the time to understand her needs.

Actually, the quote is from J.M. Barrie... And while I think it is very difficult to be completely prepared for parenting, it is a false dichotomy to say you are either completely prepared or not at all. While my first child turned my world upside-down in ways I never expected (like everyone, I suspect), there were a lot of things I had done that made me more prepared, than if I hadn't done them. Baby-sitting as kid, being an older sibling, being a leader in various social groups, helping out older friends and watching what they went through with their first children, etc. etc.

Like many of us, I suppose, I write a lot. So, I've become rather particular about pens. My current favorite is the Pilot G-2 gel pen, with a fine point. It writes smoothly, dries quickly, doesn't smudge, BUT... the ink runs out so fast! I rarely get one week's worth out of one. I feel like I'm always throwing them out, buying new ones. They sell refills, but they are barely cheaper than a new pen. And the refills are only one or two to a package. If they sold a big box of a dozen refills, I'd feel better about that. So... many folks have recommended fountain pens, and Santa says that if I'm good, a nice fountain pen might be under the tree for me this year, but I'd have to pick it out. The only stores here are ones that sell pens as high end accessories, not as everyday utensils. Any recommendations? Favorites? What should I look for? I love the idea of just buying a big thing of ink and refilling a pen over and over, instead of buying more disposable plastic. Or am I just crazy, and should keep buying plastic pens.

Anyone who writes the following: Is all-right by me.

I have no idea about the ipod. However, I just wanted to chime in and say it makes me so happy to hear that kids still have paper routes in some places. Here newspapers are delivered by adults driving beat-up cars, which just makes me sad -- paper routes seem like such great first jobs for kids, and seeing adults doing "kid" jobs (like working in fast food) just reminds me how off our economy still is, and how adults desperate for any jobs at all make it hard for teens to get starter jobs.

Well, there's lots of folks down there intending to vote for this, but just haven't got up the energy to log on and vote yet...

I don't know that diagramming helps out too much here. You probably know that in Latin, the adjective that modifies a noun matches that noun in number, gender and case. That is, the noun determines the number, gender and case of the corresponding adjective. Usually. So, the "good pirates" are the piratae boni, if the pirates are nominative, and the piratas bonos, should they be accusative. Note that while word order doesn't matter too much in Latin, when translating from Latin to English, it helps to put the noun before the adjective, because the noun determines the number, gender and case of the adjective. For a certain small set of adjectives, though, the adjective and the noun are in different cases, and the adjective determines what case the noun is in. When these phrases are translated into English, there's usually a preposition in the English translation that isn't there in the Latin. Latin often uses the case system where we would use a preposition in English. In this case, "similis, e" is one of those adjectives. This is so unusual that when you memorize the definitions for these words, you need to also memorize the case their noun takes. Usually the dictionary entry will also mention this, by saying something like "similis, e [+ dat. or gen.]". This word means "similar (to)", and the noun that is similar to this is in the dative or genitive case, even if the adjective similar isn't in the dative or genitive case (and it usually isn't). Another example is plenus, a, um (full + gen.). The noun of which something is full of is in the genitive case, even if plenus isn't.

Boy, he sets his sights high, doesn't he? I think that trying to reason about the economy is particularly difficult, logically speaking. I'm curious if this particular argument to analyze was his choice or not? I agree with you that his last paragraph runs away from the prompt, it shouldn't matter what he thinks, just whether the argument is logically sound. What makes analyzing this particular opinion piece tricky is that it is, itself trying to refute statements made by the presidential candidates. So, those original statements need to be part of your son's analysis. Note that, to my eye, the author (perhaps intentionally), himself mistakenly analyzed the positions the candidates claim to have, so that right there might be worthy of your son's time. Now, I think there's an interesting conversation you can have with him about the limits of formal logic. Without getting into politics, I hope we can all agree that the national economy is a tremendously complicated subject, and that no one really can predict how it works, and it is subject to all kinds of unintended consequences. If the economy was amenable to logic, the stock market wouldn't jump around so much.

In addition to all the obvious reasons, it's got to make the house a lot harder to sell, should you need to.

First off, the OP is talking about high school math, and even in a lot of higher level math, getting the correct answer is key. If a bridge or financial firm fails because of a math error, no one says "well, at least it was a sign error, and not a conceptual error". Moreover, this really gets to the idea of assessment. What is "one point" that everyone wants to take off, no doubt trying to preserve a higher grade? What does an "A" on a given test mean? If a test has 10 such problems, each of which has a careless error, is that still an "A" test? I'm not interested in assuring that my kids get good grades, I want them to learn math, and to prove to me that they have, and have learned it in a way that they've retained it. Too many school kids are expert test-takers, and really understand little of the topics at hand.

Maybe I'm over influenced by the last thing I've read, but having just read Salman Khan's book about the Khan Academy, I'm trying to focus more on mastery of math topics with mine. He tells the story of his 12 year old niece, whom he started tutoring because she failed to get a high enough grade on some entrance test to get tracking into the highest math track in middle school. He knew she was a smart kid, even though she herself thought she was "dumb at math". He quizzed her, and realized there was one math topic, units (and conversion thereof) , which she just didn't get. She had always gotten "A"s in math, but, he points out, you can get 95 percent on all your tests, and still have big holes in your background, holes which can be a big problem later in your math career, when they become needed foundation. He focused a lot of his one-on-one tutorial with her on unit conversion, she was able to re-take the test, passed with flying colors, and many years later, she considers herself good at math. One of his solutions to this problem is to test to mastery. That is, you don't "pass" a test until you can completely correctly do ten problems in a row. I know this doesn't answer your question, and the knee-jerk reaction is to simply case "concepts important, silly mistakes less so", but, ultimately, math is about getting the correct answer, and mistakes due to inattentiveness can happen even when using calculators and computers. Learning how to focus, and to double-check to correct for silly mistakes is an important part of learning math, as well as learning the concepts themselves.

You can probably get injured in any sport, and the car ride to practice/games is probably the most dangerous aspect. Still, we seem to know more middle-school aged girls who got hurt playing soccer than any other sport. Concussions, knee and ankle injuries and other broken bones. I don't know what it is about soccer, maybe it's just the most popular, and that skews the numbers. The concussions don't seem to happen from heading the ball, just from collisions on the field.

How close are you to your goal weight? The last few pounds can be really tough. However, if you are are further off from your goal weight, measuring inches instead of pounds can be a better measurement of progress -- muscle weighs more than fat, so if you are replacing fat with muscle, you don't necessarily lose a lot of weight, but you look a lot better. Finally, and I know this is tough, some folks say that caffeine inhibits weight loss, as it causes blood sugar levels to rise, which slow fat burning.