Happy 100th Birthday Crossword Puzzle!

This weekend, one of my favourite pastimes turned a century old! To celebrate 100 years of the crossword, an American culture icon, here are some interesting facts about crosswords taken from a speech I gave about crosswords for college last year.

The first crossword was invented in 1913 by a journalist called Arthur Wynne for the New York World. It was a diamond shape with no blackened out squares and easy clues.

Arthur Wynne called his game a "word-cross". The name was later changed to "cross-word", but then there was a typo one day and the hyphen was dropped, with the game becoming "crossword" as we know it.

Although the New York Times wasn't initially a big fan of the crossword, it would eventually publish its first Sunday crossword almost 20 years later in 1942, during World War II. An editor at the Times argued that they should published crosswords to give readers something do during the blackouts that happened after the bombing of Pearl Harbour.

Now the New York Times' crossword is considered one of the most popular crosswords in America. The difficulty gets harder throughout the week, with the easiest on Monday and the most difficult on Saturday. Sunday's large puzzle is around the same difficulty as Thursday's puzzle.

Lots of celebrities are fans of the Times' Sunday crossword, including talk show host Jon Stewart and former President Bill Clinton, who can apparently finish one in 20 minutes!

Bill Clinton was also featured in one of the most famous crossword puzzles published in the New York Times on the day of the U.S. presidential election in 1996 between Bill Clinton and Bob Dole. The answer to "Tomorrow's headline" could either be CLINTON ELECTED or BOBDOLE ELECTED, depending on how you filled in the answers going down.

In another cool crossword moment, a guy proposed to his girlfriend using the New York Times crossword. One of the answers was Paula Abdul's hit song "Will you marry me?" The crossword writer even managed to include the guy and his girlfriend's names in the crossword. She said yes!

The clue for the longest word ever used in a crossword is "Giggling troll follows Clancy, Larry, Billy and Peggy who howl, wrongly disturbing a place in Wales." The answer is: 

Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch*

*a town in Wales

Pope Francis Named TIME's Person of the Year 2013

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This week, TIME magazine named its Person of the Year for 2013! Every year, TIME dedicates a magazine issue to a person, group, idea or object that "for better or for worse, ... has done the most to influence the events of the year." This year, the magazine has chosen Pope Francis, the current leader of the Catholic Church.

Ever since he was elected as the Pope in March following the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI due to ill-health, Pope Francis has captured the attention of many across the world.

As the Pope, he is less formal than the popes before him. Francis doesn't live in the papal palace. He drives a Ford Focus instead of a Mercedes. He doesn't wear the red Prada shoes or the gilded cross, opting instead for an iron one around his neck.

When he was elected, he told journalists that he chose the name Francis (in honour of Saint Francis of Assisi) because he was especially concerned for the well-being of the poor. From the beginning, he told an Archbishop, "You can sell your desk. You don't need it. You need to get out o the Vatican. Don't wait for people to come ringing. You need to go out and look for the poor."

He has since earned the nickname "Pope of the Poor." It was recently revealed that the Pope often sneaks out of the Vatican at night dressed as a regular priest to help the homeless. When he was a Cardinal, he even bought food to the homeless and sat and ate with them on the streets.

Although he has shown support for the Catholic Church's present teachings, Pope Francis has said that Catholics have become too obsessed with "small-minded rules" that they have forgotten about the greater need for tenderness, mercy, compassion, and as TIME puts it, "the vast possibilities of grace." He has urged the Catholic Church to emphasise compassion over condemnation of topics such as abortion, gay rights and contraception. As TIME writes, "Don't preach; listen, he says. Don't scold, heal."

As the Catholic Church is one of the world's oldest and largest institutions, change does not come easily. It has also been the subject of much criticism because of the scandal and corruption that goes on inside. But instead of passing harsh judgements, Pope Francis has reminded the Church and its followers about the importance of compassion, and in doing so, he has started to bring the Catholic Church back to its mission of healing – serving and comforting those in need – and balancing judgement with mercy.

"I see the church as a field hospital after battle. It is useless to ask a seriously injured person if he has high cholesterol and about the level of his blood sugars!" Pope Francis said.

Sources:
TIME Magazine: "Pope Francis, the Choice" & "Pope Francis, The People's Pope"
The Guardian: "Pope Francis named Time magazine person of the year for 2013"
Wikipedia: "Pope Francis", "Time Person of the Year"
Yahoo: "'Pope of the Poor' Secretly Living Up to His Nickname"
American Magazine: "A Big Heart Open to God"

Remembering Nelson Mandela: Quotes, Poems & Passages

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Nelson Mandela once said, "It is never my custom to use words lightly. If 27 years in prison have done anything to us, it was to use the silence of solitude to make us understand how precious words are and how real speech is in its impact on the way people live and die."

Indeed, Nelson Mandela, the hero of millions, has uttered and written many words of wisdom and inspiration throughout his lifetime. Here are some of his best quotes:

"A good head and a good heart always a formidable combination"

"Never, never and never again shall it be that this beautiful land will again experience the oppression of one by another."

"I learned that courage was the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear."

"For to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects the freedom of others." 

"There is no passion to be found playing small – in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living."

"It always seems impossible until it's done."

"Do not judge me by my successes, judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again."

"In my country we go to prison first and then become president."

"Man's goodness is a flame that can be hidden but never extinguished." 

"Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world."

"There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the way in which you yourself have altered."

"If you want to make peace with your enemy, you have to work with your enemy. Then he becomes your partner." 

"After climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb."

"It is better to lead from behind and to put others in front, especially when you celebrate victory when nice things occur. You take the front line when there is danger. Then people will appreciate your leadership."

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Besides composing his own words of wisdom, Mandela had some good taste in poems and passages. For example, while Nelson Mandela was imprisoned on Robben Island, he discovered the poem "Invictus" by William Ernest Henley and loved its message. As seen in the 2009 film of the same name, Mandela often recited the poem to other prisoners.

Below is Henley's "Invictus" poem in its entirety:

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance 
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishment the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

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When Mandela became the President of South Africa in 1994, he sent the captain of the South African rugby team a copy of the "Man in the Arena" passage – also quoted by Brené Brown in her TED talk about vulnerability – from President Theordore "Teddy" Roosevelt's "Citizenship in a Republic"speech. Mandela inspired the South African rugby team to defeat my other home country New Zealand in the 1995 Rugby World Cup final in an emotional sweep. As seen in the film Invictus, Mandela walked onto the field after the win wearing the South African team's green rugby jersey as 80,000 fans burst into chants of "Nel-son! Nel-son!"

Teddy Roosevelt's "Man in the Arena" passage goes as follows:

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat." 

Nelson Mandela 1918 – 2013

No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.

– Nelson Mandela

The world lost a great man today. Nelson Mandela, South Africa's first African American president and the man who led South Africa to freedom, died Thursday night. He was 95. 

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Born Rolihlahla Mandela in a South African village in 1918, Nelson Mandela is often hailed as the father of South Africa and a hero to millions around the world. While he was at university, he became involved in the African National Congress (ANC). When apartheid began in 1948, Mandela led the ANC's Defiance Campaign against apartheid. 

In 1948, after World War II, the South African government introduced apartheid, literally "apartness" in Afrikaans, as an official policy. Under apartheid, South Africans were grouped into four groups ("black," "white," "coloured" and "Indian") and segregated. The whites, who were a minority, ruled South Africa, while the blacks, who were the majority, were stripped of many of their rights. By the 1970s, blacks were no longer allowed to hold political office, nor were they allowed South African citizenship. They were instead forced to become citizens of one of bantustans, self-governing homelands and townships. The segregation occurred in residential areas, education, medical care, beaches and other public services. The blacks were provided with inferior services to those of the white people. 

Mandela was often arrested for rebelling against the government. Although he originally believed in non-violent protest (like Gandhi), he eventually led a sabotage campaign against the apartheid government. He was arrested in 1962 and convicted of conspiracy to overthrow the government and sentenced to imprisonment for the rest of his life.

While he was on trial at the Supremer Court of South Africa, Mandela gave a four hour speech from the dock. In it, he said, "I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination... I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons will live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to see realized. But my lord, if it needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die."

For his ideal, Mandela spent 27 years in prison. He was 44 when he was imprisoned on Robben Island, and he would be 71 when he was released in 1990. During his years in prison, Nelson Mandela became, according to the New York Times, a symbol of the opposition of apartheid. After he was released, Mandela started negotiating with the South African President F.W. de Klerk to abolish apartheid. He became South Africa's first African American president in 1994. 

Today, many people around the world have gathered to mourn the loss of Nelson Mandela. Mandela's death was announced by current South African President Jacob Zuma, who said, "Our nation has lost its greatest son." President Obama called Mandela an inspiration, saying, "He no longer belongs with us. He belongs with the ages." British Prime Minister David Cameron called Mandela, "A great light...in the world," and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called Mandela, "A giant among men."

"I have had the privilege of spending time with President Mandela and I can say his sense of humor was as great as his optimism," said Harvey Weinstein, the co-chairman of the company that produced the upcoming film Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom, based on Mandela's autobiography. Idris Elba, who portrays Mandela in the film, said, "What an honour it was to step into the shoes of Nelson Mandela and portray a man who defied odds, broke down barriers, and championed human rights before the eyes of the world."

Morgan Freeman, who also portrayed Mandela in the 2009 film Invictus, said, "Today the world lost one of the true giants of the past century. Nelson Mandela was a man of incomparable honour, unconquerable strength, and unyielding resolve – a saint to many, a hero to all who treasure liberty, freedom and the dignity of humankind. As we remember his triumphs, let us, in his memory, not just reflect on how far we've come, but on how far we have to go. Madiba may no longer be with us, but his journey continues on with me and with all of us." Freeman, who watched Invictus with the former South African president, continued, "When you meet Mandela, you know you are in the presence of greatness. It is something that just emanates from him."

"Playing God is not a challenge at all... and playing the president, who's the president? He's just a guy," Freeman, who has also portrayed the President of the United States and God, said, "Mandela's not just a guy."

Rest in peace, Madiba.

Sources: The Guardian, The New York Times, Buzzfeed, The Hollywood Reporter and The Week

Movies You Must See Before You Grow Up

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It has recently dawned upon me that this is the perfect time for me to introduce you to some of the movies that defined my childhood. I'm a bit of a film buff – movies are my thing – so I'm really excited to do this and introduce you to the worlds of Marty McFly, Jar Jar Binks and Forrest, Forrest Gump.

Sandy and Selina finished the Back to the Future series the other week, and we were all really sad that hoverboards had not been invented yet. Technically, Marty travelled to 2015, so I don't know about you but I'm keeping my fingers crossed for hoverboards in two years. Sandy even wrote a short blog post and Selina an essay about how much they loved the film.

These past few weeks, I've racked my brain, as well as the brains of my mum and sister, to come up with a list of movies that you absolutely must watch before you grow up. And if you're grown up and haven't watched them, then there's no better time to start!

• Back to the Future I
• Back to the Future II
• Back to the Future III
• Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark
• Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
• Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
• Star Wars IV: A New Hope
• Star Wars V: The Empire Strike Back
• Star Wars VI: Return of the Jedi
• Star Wars I: The Phantom Menace
• Star Wars II: Attack of the Clones
• Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith
• Jurassic Park 
• The Lost World: Jurassic Park
• Jurassic Park III
• Die Hard
• Die Hard 2
• Die Hard with a Vengeance 
• E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
• Grease
• Mary Poppins
• The Sound of Music
• Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
• The Princess Bride
• Big
• Forrest Gump
• Dirty Dancing
• Babe
• Ghostbusters
• Jaws
• Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (the old one)
• The King and I
• Clueless
• Sister Act
• The Wizard of Oz
• Superman 
• Superman II 

A few personal favourites:

• Forrest Gump (again)
• It's a Wonderful Life
• My Fair Lady
• Singin' in the Rain
• The Phantom of the Opera
• Romeo + Juliet
• The Truman Show
• Groundhog Day
• House of Flying Daggers
• Hero
• Gone with the Wind
• The Snowman

Comedy:

• Rush Hour 
• Rush Hour 2
• Beverly Hills Ninja
• Flubber
• Mrs. Doubtfire
• Hook
• Bean

And of course:

• Everything Disney
• Everything Pixar 
• Everything Hayao Miyazaki

Now children, go forth into the world, and may the force be with you.

Celebrating Mark Twain's Birthday with His Words of Wisdom (and Humour)

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Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known as Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist. Hailed as the Father of American Literature by William Faulkner, Twain is the author of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and its sequel Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, a "Great American Novel" because it accurately represented the United States at the time it was written.

Twain grew up in Hannibal, Missouri, which served as the setting of many of his books. When he was young, he worked as a typesetter for a magazine before he discovered he was good at writing humour (we may read The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County). Twain liked to make fun of people in the upper classes. He was the first author to use American dialect – the way Americans speak – and humour.

Twain was born on November 30, 1835 during a visit by Halley's Comet, which can be seen from Earth every 75 to 76 years. Twain predicted that he would die when Halley's Comet came back, and he was right! He died on April 21, 1910, the day after the comet returned.

To celebrate his birthday, here are some of Mark Twain's best quotes:

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"If you always tell truth, you don't have to remember anything."

"A person who won't read has no advantage over one who can't read."

"The secret of getting ahead is getting started."

"Don't go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first."

"Always do right. This will gratify some people, and astonish the rest."

"Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please."

"Kindness is the language which the deaf can see and the blind can see."

"The best way to cheer yourself up is to try cheer somebody else up."

"Go to Heaven for the climate, Hell for the company." 

"Good friends, good books and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life." 

Doctor Who 50th Anniversary

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At long last, the Day of the Doctor is upon us. After half a century of wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey stuff, today, November 23rd, 2013, is the 50th anniversary of the British science-fiction TV show Doctor Who, the longest-running science-fiction TV show in the world ever!

Obviously, I am terribly biased because I am a die-hard Whovian (a Doctor Who fan), but I simply could not let this opportunity pass by without writing at least a short blog post to acknowledge the other 50th landmark (besides JFK's assassination) this year. I have been waiting for this day for some time now, and it appears the Internet has been as excited as I am. There's been a big bang in Doctor Who stuff in the past two weeks after the BBC launched a Build the TARDIS site, which collects all the information tagged with the hashtag #SavetheDay. Check it out, it's very "cool," as the Eleventh Doctor would say.

Yesterday was a very Who day for me, starting from when Selina told me about the Google 'Whodle'. Without Selina, I'd never have realized that Google had done a doodle to celebrate one of my favourite TV shows turning 50 years old! I absolutely love that it was Selina who told me – it was a complete full circle/Who-esque moment. I introduced her to Doctor Who, and she would in turn tell me about the 'Whodle'. This is turning out to be a lot like a Doctor Who episode. No? Then "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," as the Tenth Doctor (AKA, my Doctor) would say.

Naturally, when I got home, I ran, got exterminated by Daleks, deleted by Cybermen and zapped back in time by the Weeping Angels and regenerated more than a few times. I was able to finally save the Google logo and defeat the Daleks – as the Doctor always does – and see all 11 Doctors united and rejoicing:

For reference, here's what the 11 Doctors look like:

And here is a video celebrating the 50 years, featuring all 11 Doctors in costume (Let me know if you want to talk Easter Eggs in the vid):

And a little bit of an introduction about Doctor Who from author Neil Gaiman for any new potential Whovians amongst my students (ahem, Sandy):

No, look, there's a blue box. It's bigger on the inside than it is on the outside. It can go anywhere in time and space and sometimes even where it's meant to go. And when it turns up, there's a bloke in it called The Doctor and there will be stuff wrong and he will do his best to sort it out and he will probably succeed 'cause he's awesome. Now sit down, shut up, and watch 'Blink'.

Continuing my Who celebrations – and because they didn't know who the Weeping Angels are and what they are capable of – Selina, Sandy and I then followed Neil Gaiman's advice and watched "Blink" together yesterday. It was creepy and "fantastic!" as the Ninth Doctor would say.

Anyway, this blog post has turned into me dashing about being really excited about "The Day of the Doctor" (and trying to insert as many Doctor Who references as possible). "The Day of the Doctor," the 50th anniversary special episode, is going to air this Sunday (11/24) at 3:50 AM in Taiwan on BBC Asia. Before you ask, yes, I will be up at the unearthly child hour.

Now some links to cool Doctor Who stuff done by our own:

• Selina has written two wonderful blog posts about two episodes that we watched together – "Father's Day" and "The Girl in the Fireplace."
• On the other hand, I have written a post on my other blog about my favourite episode of each season of the new Doctor Who.

That's all for now. Until then, you'll find me eating fish fingers and custard in the little shop – I love a little shop! Now, onto the TARDIS and to 23.11.13 we go! Geronimo! Allons-y! RUN!

P.S. Spoilers! I am going to be geeking out all of next week.

50 Years Later: Remember J.F.K.'s Assassination Through Photos

President Kennedy, his wife Jacqueline Kennedy & Governor of
Texas John Connally minutes before the President was shot.

Today is 50 years after the day President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. President Kennedy was the 35th president of the United States, serving from January 20, 1961 until he was assassinated on November 22, 1963. Out of the four successful presidential assassinations, J.F.K's assassination – along with that of Abraham Lincoln – is one of the better known presidential assassinations. The other two presidents were James A. Garfield and William McKinley; there were also unsuccessful assassination attempts on former Presidents Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan.


To commemorate 50 years since President Kennedy's passing, let us travel back in time to revisit the story through the extensive amount of photographs that were captured on and after the day of the assassination.

A map showing Dealy Plaza with the route taken by the Presidential limousine for President Kennedy's visit to Dallas, Texas. The route was planned to give the President maximum exposure to the crowd.

President Kennedy, first lady Jacqueline "Jackie" Kennedy, Texas Governor John Connally and his wife Nellie Connally depart in the presidential motorcade for downtown Dallas. The President asked about the weather earlier and decided to keep the top down on the limousine.

The Presidential motorcade was met with a warm reception Downtown. Texas first lady Nellie Connally said, "Mr. President, you can't say Dallas doesn't love you," before the first shot rang out.

Photo taken right after the fatal shot to the President. The first lady is cradling the President, who had slumped forward after the first bullets hit him. "Oh my God... They've shot my husband," she said.

Bill and Gayle Newman, the closest civilian eyewitnesses to the assassination, dropped to the ground to shield their children from the gunshots. About 30 seconds later, photographers ran after the motorcade.

Howard Brennan, a steamfitter seen in the photo sitting across the street from the Texas School Book Depository, notified the police that he heard shots come from above and looked up to see a man with a rifle make another shot from a corner window on the sixth floor (Circle A).

As the limousine races towards Parkland Hospital, Secret Service agent Clint Hill, who had been assigned to protect the first lady, climbed onto the limousine. When the limousine arrives at the hospital, the first lady is heard saying, "They murdered my husband; they murdered my husband."

Soon, there is a crowd outside the hospital. 

Vice-President Lyndon B. Johnson's driver (left) and others listen to news accounts of the President's assassination on the car radio outside the Parkland Hospital's emergency entrance.

Dr. Tom Shires describes the wounds of President Kennedy to the press. Four doctors had worked on the President in the emergency room. 

Walter Cronkite, anchor of CBS Evening News and "the most trusted man in America," makes an emotional confirmation of Kennedy's death on TV. "From Dallas, Texas, the flash – apparently official – President Kennedy died," Cronkite said.

Lee Harvey Oswald (centre back) is arrested for the assassination. 

Before a trial can take place, while being escorted to a car to Dallas County Jail two days after his arrest, Oswald is shot and killed by Dallas nightclub owner Jack Ruby. The shooting happened on live television. Ruby is arrested right after and said he wanted to spare Mrs. Kennedy from having to go through a trial.

President Kennedy's casket is taken onboard Air Force One.

Vice-President Lyndon B. Johnson is sworn in as the President of the United States on Air Force One with Mrs. Kennedy at his side. Mrs. Kennedy was still wearing her pink suit that had been stained with her husband's blood. She said, "I want them to see what they've done to Jack."

President Kennedy's younger brother and Attorney General Robert Kennedy holds Jackie Kennedy's hand as President Kennedy's coffin is placed in an ambulance after arriving at an Air Force One Base near Washington.

Three year-old John F. Kennedy Jr. salutes his father's casket in Washington three days after the assassination. President Kennedy's daughter Caroline Kennedy, widow Jacqueline Kennedy and brothers Senator Edward Kennedy (left) and General Attorney Robert Kennedy (right) are also present. While campaigning to run for President in 1968, Robert Kennedy would be assassinated on June 6, 1968 in the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles.

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After a 10-month investigation, the Warren Commission concluded that President Kennedy was assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald, who was acting alone, and that Jack Ruby also acted alone when he killed Oswald before the trial. However, the public opinion has shifted since then, with many believing that President Kennedy's assassination was part of a plot or cover-up and as a result of a conspiracy. There are many theories out there, and if you are interested, you can read about them here and check out the movie JFK, which also examines some of the possible conspiracy theories (It's a fantastic movie).

All photos via Wikipedia, The Dallas News & the SacBee.

To this day, President Kennedy remains one of America's favourite presidents, along with Presidents Lincoln, Washington and Roosevelt. President Kennedy was against segregation and supported the rights of African Americans. A century (100 years) after President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, Kennedy became the first president to call on Americans to see racism as morally wrong. With the help of his successor Lyndon Johnson, Kennedy's work would later lead to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which ended segregation and made racism and discrimination illegal.

Not only that, many of Kennedy's speeches have become very famous, especially his inaugural address, which you can watch here. There are numerous memorials dedicated to him, including the airport in New York, which was renamed John F. Kennedy International Airport in 1963.

If you are interested, the New York Times has a fantastic interactive about J.F.K's assassination. Check it out here.

Happy Birthday Sandy!

Today we are celebrating the birthday of one of our very own! She loves good food, scary movies, skateboarding, and she's just about the coolest kid you'll ever meet. She became a proper teenager today and turned a big 13! Let's wish Sandy a very happy birthday!

For her birthday, Sandy would like a hoverboard similar to the one Marty McFly has in Back to the Future. If that's not possible, then his jacket would be fine too.

Besides getting an awesome new haircut this week, she has written some hilarious haikus, some of the scariest passages in Rosebud and just finished reading The Suitcase Kid – her first proper English novel – all on her own!

Mini-festivities and update to come. There may or may not be cake involved.


Live Blog of Our Mini-Celebration

5:34 PM
Currently waiting for the kids to get off from swimming.

5:45 PM
Presents and cake at the ready!



6:00 PM
What a wonderful year (and week) to turn 13. This week is filled with big historical events. Just yesterday was the 150th anniversary of Lincoln's Gettysburg speech, which we learnt about when we talked about the American Civil War. This Friday is also 50 years after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. And of course, on a less serious note, this Saturday is the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who, one of my favourite TV shows.

6:08 PM
I hear kids!

6:09 PM
The birthday girl and Selina have arrived! There is much excitement as the mini-festivities begin. But before we devour the cupcakes (like the person in the background, ahem), we snap a shot of the birthday girl!


The lighting is pretty weird here and I lost track of the time, but hey, there is more photo-taking as we decide to include the person in the background who was eating her cupcake:

Then we have some fun:

And finally, cupcakes are eaten, cards are read, and presents are opened. We present to you – the cutest Miss Mushroom with her mini Miss Mushroom!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SANDY!

Happy Birthday Fyodor Dostoevsky!

To live without hope is to cease to live. 

– Fyodor Dostoevsky

Ever since we started celebrating the birthdays of beloved authors like Roald Dahl, F. Scott Fitzgerald, William Faulkner, Shel Silverstein and T. S. Eliot in my "Famous Author Birthday" series, I've been waiting for November 11. Today, we get to celebrate the birthday of one of my all time favourite authors – Fyodor Dostoevsky. Please join me in wishing him a very С Днем Рождения (happy birthday in Russian)!

Fyodor Dostoevsky (November 11, 1821 – 9 February, 1881) was a Russian author, essayist and philosopher. His most famous works include Crime and Punishment, The Idiot, Notes from Underground and The Brothers Karamazov, all of which are amongst some of my favourite books.

Dostoevsky, along with Leo Tolstoy, is considered one of the greatest authors of the Golden Age of Russian literature. His books have been translated into more than 170 languages! Not only that, he has influenced a lot – and I mean a lot – of writers, philosophers, scientists and psychologists. Albert Einstein, Friedrich Nietzsche, Anton Chekhov, Herman Hesse, Knut Hamsun, Ernest Hemingway, James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, Franz Kafka, Sigmund Freud and Kurt Vonnegut (who incidentally shares the same birthday – happy birthday Kurt Vonnegut!) are all fans of his work!

Dostoevsky's notes for Chapter 5 of The Brothers Karamazov

Dostoevsky's novels are often very complex, and his characters very dark. He joined a lot of different points of views and voices together to explore many deep themes including religion, guilt, dreams, emotions, visions and human nature. To give an example, the picture to the left is his notes for one chapter of The Brothers Karamzov. His works encompass so many ideas and themes that I will leave it up to him to do the explaining himself with a quote.

Man is a mystery. It needs to be unravelled, and if you spend your whole life unravelling it, don't say that you've wasted time. I am studying that mystery because I want to be a human being.

Dostoevsky was the reason I fell in love with Russian literature, and I hope that one day you, my students, will get the chance to read at least one of his books and feel for yourself what a mind-blowing experience it really is! To conclude, here is some advice from the very wise man himself:

Above all, don't lie to yourself. The man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes to a point that he cannot distinguish the truth within him, or around him, and so loses all respect for himself and for others. And having no respect he ceases to live.

– The Brothers Karamazov, Fyodor Dostoevsky

P.S. To find out more about our Kurt Vonnegut, our other birthday boy, the Huffington Post wrote a wonderful post about what Vonnegut can teach us about life.

Join the Universe in Wishing Carl Sagan a Big Bang of a Birthday!

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This weekend we celebrate the birthday of beloved American astronomer, astrophysicist and cosmologist Carl Sagan on November 9. Sagan was born in 1934 and died in 1996.

Carl Sagan is famous for contributing to people's understanding of the cosmos – the universe – as a whole. He is the author of the science book and TV series Cosmos. Cosmos covered many scientific topics such as the origin of life and our place in the Universe. He also wrote the novel Contact, which was made into a movie in 1997.

Because Carl Sagan was able to communicate complex ideas very easily, he helped people understand our place, as humans, in the universe. He taught us how small the Earth is compared to the Universe but at the same time emphasized the value and importance of the human race. Sagan's work helped to discover the high surface temperatures on Venus, the second planet from the sun. His research also deals with the possibilities of extraterrestrial life (aliens!).

In honour of his birthday, here, from the 11th episode of Cosmos, is a quote from Sagan about the magic of books:

What an astonishing thing a book is. It is a flat object made from a tree with flexible parts on which are imprinted lots of funny dark squiggles. But one glance at it and you're inside the mind of another person, maybe someone dead for thousands of years. Across the millennia, an author is speaking clearly and silently inside your head, directly to you. Writing is perhaps the greatest of human inventions, binding together people who never knew each other, citizens of distant epochs. Books break the shackles of time. A book is proof that humans are capable of working magic.

Rosebud

In the two weeks leading up to Halloween, we are working together on writing a story of suspense and mystery. Each person takes turns to write a few paragraphs before passing it onto the next person. This is what we have achieved this week. This post will continue to be updated as we add to it over the next week.

Key:
Kassy
Sandy
Selina
Oscar
Vivian
Stella

It was the strangest thing I ever heard. And it was the last thing my uncle said
before he died . . .

As he lay on his death bed, his eyes fluttered open. With his last breath, he exhaled and breathed out the single, lonely word.

"Rosebud."

Then he was gone. The blood drained from his pale, sickly face, and his wrinkly hand fell, limp by his side. At that exact moment, I felt a tremor creep up my spine. I shuddered. A chill had entered the room. It was as if Death himself had entered the dirty, dim hospital room in which our entire family had been crammed in.

My uncle was a nice guy when he was young. He was a police officer. The year he turned 50 years old, he got a mental problem, so he went to the hospital. Everyone in our family really liked him. One day there was a guy who called my uncle and they were talking and my uncle's face turned terrible, scary and as white as a ghost. Then he shouted loudly at the old cellphone, "DON'T COME TO ME!" 

Then the next week, there was the news on TV that there was a person who killed three people in one night. The police found out that the murderer left a note in the mouth of all three victims. On each note, there was the word "Rosebud". It was written in the blood of the victim and all the victims were cut into nice, neat pieces. The news anchor said there was a same case in 1989. And in 1989, the murderer was called Shadow. Then my uncle shouted anxiously at the TV in the hospital, "HE'S BACK." 

So I asked him, "Who is back?" Then my uncle was silent. his face had turned in the same color when he was talking on the phone. I felt interested in all the things that just happened that my uncle was so scared about. Maybe that was the thing that my uncle did at work because he never talked about it before. So I decided to ask him...

"Uncle, who exactly is Rosebud?", nothing came out of his pale, white mouth. I stared at him for a few seconds, and he slightly opened his mouth. He whispered, "Rosebud...Rosebud, she's back!" My body started shivering, he continued whispering in a nervous, and soft voice "She was the woman I loved, but I saw it with my own eyes. She died in front of me, killed by the murderer who had blue shining eyes. Rosebud got killed by an arrow, and she fell straight into my strong, tight arms. I was falling apart, tears strolled down my dark eyes." All I could hear was the sound of my heart kicking against my ribs. What was happening? Why is Rosebud alive? What's wrong with my uncle? Thump, thump....I was dizzy, my head felt like exploding, everything felt wrong. Then a sharp, high scream ended my pain...I felt unconscious, my hand gripped strongly on my uncle's bed. Slowly, every sound that's heard grew fainter, and fainter, farther, and farther away from me until I collapsed onto the cold, freezing ground.

I slightly opened my bright blue eyes, and saw myself staring at a smooth, black concrete floor. This certainly wasn't the yellow-tinged tiles inside the hospital that I had fainted on. I quickly gathered myself together and looked around bewilderedly to find myself in a dark warehouse filled with all sorts of ....

Pictures of a beautiful, elegant, and young woman. Who is she? Then I walked slowly around the room, and I couldn't help approaching a huge, crumpled map. There were tons of blue pins sticking all around the map with different faces, each had a name written. One of the pictures had a name written Rosebud, and I realize that all the other pictures around the room was Rosebud too! On the map, was another man named "Carl" I knew him by looking at the blue straight hair he had. But he was dead, and I thought what possibly can this map be. I looked again and again, then I saw my Uncle's picture up on there. He had a bright smile, and he looked healthy. My heart started to speed, suddenly the door creaked open.....

I felt cold, slowly my body become stiff, and my heart was beating, po!po!popo! my clothes became wet, drop by drop of sweat fell on the ground.

Then I heard the sound of someone walking toward to me. Suddenly I turned back so fast and my heart was jumping so fast because I saw a pair of shoes in front of me. they were dark brown, made by leather. I recognized the shoes right away. I quickly turned my head up and saw......my uncle. "Anything wrong?" asked my uncle. Then he looked at me with a strange smile. "Nothing," I said in a normal voice but I felt a little scared. "Uncle, is this you?" I pointed at a photo on the wall and asked. "No, that is just the killer I was chasing," he said. "Then what about this guy?" I asked. My uncle didn't talk. Then I saw a picture on the wall that said "ROSEBUD". I remembered that it was the word the murderer put in the mouth of the victims on the TV. "What is this? Is this yours uncle?" I said, pointing to the Rosebud poster on the wall. "STOP!!"my uncle shouted in a loud voice. I got scared, because my uncle changed attitude so much. So I chose silence. "Time to go," my uncle said, and grabbed my hand tightly and walked out silently with no expression on his face.

He grabbed my shirt as we left the house, walking toward the blue, cracky van with its engine already running. He was waiting for me. He threw me hard into the backseat as he went to the trunk and took out a brown, old painting. "You were such a young, beautiful girl. And that is why, I can't keep you." My heartbeat jumped as his words came out. "Ashley, check this out." He passed the dusty painting to me. It was a young, blond girl with a delightful smile. "Does this person seem familiar?" Uncle grinned showing his cigarette stained teeth as he gave me a mirror. My body froze, my legs were trembling. "SMASH!" The mirror dropped and broke into pieces. I screamed in horror. He was grinning with a look I've never seen on his face before. He looked like a demon. I wasn't sure what I saw but all I remembered was that I took one of the broken mirror shards and stabbed him at the chest. He screamed as the blood oozed out and stained the mirror scarlet. "I...I...I..." I was mumbling. That was not me. My uncle stared at me with his blue, huge eyes. The van door was open, so I ran and ran as long as I could until I fell at the front door of the hospital. I heard the footsteps as my heart nearly jumped out from my chest. There, was the same pair of dark brown leather shoes standing in front of me. My jaw dropped. Then it began. My heart thumped in my chest, a rapid rhythm that was echoed in my temples. A high-pitch ringing started in my ears, and my vision blurred. It couldn't be. I blinked the tears away from my eyes and checked the shoes again, and sure enough, in front of me were the shoes that I had stepped on countless times as a child as my uncle, holding my hands, swung me around the garden, teaching me how to waltz. I felt a wave of nausea come over me. I gulped. I was defeated, sitting in a heap on the grey concrete floor in front of the hospital. Trying to hide my despair, I mustered up what little energy I had left and whispered the words that I now feared, "...Uncle?"

"Ashley, what happened?" a familiar sound echoed through my ears. I looked up and saw a huge dark shadow, I wished I was dreaming but uncle was standing right in front of me. He bent down on his knees, and I could see that mirror stabbed right in his chest droplets of blood dripped slowly down towards my face. Uncle whispered softly, "Ashley you all right, let me help you." I screamed and said, "What's wrong with you, your voice.....are you even my Uncle?" "Ashley stop worrying, come on let's go inside." I was breathing heavily, and looked at Uncle as he helped me out, chills were going through my body I felt horrified. Uncle stared back at me, but is he still the person that wanted to kill me? We slowly walked in, and a nurse hurried over terrified looking at Uncle's chest. She said, "Mr. Wickham, lets get you to the emergency room and get that hell of a piece of glass out of your chest." Uncle replied, "Oh sure, I had no idea what the hell happened to me." I stared at him again, is he crazy? I stabbed him, and now he's acting all weird, and cool. Then Uncle, and the nurse walked slowly in the emergency room. As they walked towards the room, Uncle turned back and gave me an evil smile. Then he walked away. 

For the next few week I am staying at my house. I think about what happened last week. "How can my uncle change so fast in one moment?" and how the things that happened in these few weeks are so related to my uncle. Maybe my uncle really has some secrets. That night uncle called me and said "I want to go to another place tomorrow. Do you want to go with me?" "Uh............okay uncle," I said, because I want to find out what is going on even if I am really scared. But it is time for me to find out. The next morning I went to the hospital. I walked upstairs to my uncle's room. "Morning Uncle," I said. "Good morning my dear," he said with a weird smile, "We are going to the place where I was born." 

So we went in the car and drove to the place where they aren't many houses or people. We walked through a small door into an old wooden house with many tombstones around it. I looked around. There were many paintings on the wall and there was a TV in the living room. I turned on the TV. The news anchor said there was a murder yesterday in ........... I stopped listening and suddenly felt cold. "Uncle? " I said, "Can we go now?" But no one answered me. Now I am scared. I walked to the door we came through but the door was locked. I ran to the second floor. There were so many rooms and I ran to one of the doors and rattled the doorknob. The door was locked too. I ran to another and another until I ran into a room that is unlocked. I looked around. There are many words written by red ink on the wall. I looked carefully. It said "Rosebud" over and over again. I was shocked. I am sweating and I felt cold again. I stood back and walked toward the door. Suddenly my feet touched something soft. It wasn't as soft as a pillow. It felt like there were bones inside. And then when I put my foot down harder, I heard it crack. Then I turned back and my face turned white because I saw a dead body. I bit my hand so I didn't scream out loud. My legs turned weak. I couldn't believe my eyes. And then I heard a sound...

Then I hear footsteps. For a sudden, I couldn't move. I held my breath. Just when I was going to turn back my head, my sight went black. I screamed. But all the sound was muffled by something over my lips. My lips were stuck together. Someone must've blindfolded me. I was grabbed roughly to a corner. I felt something was beside me. I used my hands to make sure, the answer made my hands start shivering. It was some liquid, and by the moment I realized, I smelled...blood. I kept kicking into the air as I heard footsteps getting closer. Just when the footsteps got even closer, I heard noises outside the room door, then "BAMMM" the wooden floor moved as something heavy fell down. I heard another footsteps coming by, closer, and closer...

Someone grabbed me and pushed me into a corner. I felt my body hit the wall. My teeth trembled, and my arm lost its consciousness. I heard the door smash and lock. The footsteps were becoming smaller and smaller, and I could hear nothing more than my breath. Again, it is silent. I started to feel pain in my arms. Even though I was blindfolded, I could still imagine that my body was covered with dark dried up blood. I laid on the floor lifelessly. Tiredness came over me, and soon, I closed my eyes and began my nightmare.

I don't know what time it was when I woke up. It felt like it had been a year already but I know it's not true. I tried to get the rope off my wrists but it is too tight. Suddenly I remembered that something fell down so I try to stand up and walk to where I heard the sound. "I got it" I said. It felt like some sharp broken glass I try to reach it "ouch" I shouted loudly in my brain it is a sharp pain coming right away in to my brain.I know I cut my finger and cut it really deep. But I can't give up so I try to reach it carefully again. before I can reach it there was a sound from the door. "oh s..." I thought it was uncle I was so scared that I nervously crawl back try to reach the same corner where I was. "Police, is anyone inside?" I am so happy to heard that sound that I try to scream as loud as I could but actually couldn't. so I kicked the wooden floor as hard as I could.