the boy (not) in the balloon

This week the news and internet were full of the story of a balloon taking off with presumably a child in it.

Turned out the kid had been hiding in the shed all the time.

My intuition told me there was more to it.
How could the balloon get in the air?
Why would the child hide itself?

When watching an interview with the child and parents he said something that triggered my attention and made me think it had all been a set up to get attention for the balloon.

I was right.

The father will be brought to court, it's said.
The charges are not known yet.

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Knowitall.org

Once in a while I stumble upon a website that should get far more attention than it does.

The site from Knowitall.org is one of them.
It's ETV's educational Web portal, and is filled with all sorts of interactive items for K-12 students, teachers and parents. In fact, many of them are websites that can be used as a whole to cover a subject.

The diversity of the subjects is large, so there's something for everybody.

There's a good mix of fun and educational content. For example the song: Wash hands, and the manual for writing a Haiku.

Have a look yourself.

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I'm changing the template.

I'm in the middle of changing the template.

Almost ready with the changes.

How do you like it?

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Plant bulbs for christmas now

I want some flowers at christmas.
When do I need to plant the bulbs?
Or am I too late already.

The next two to three weeks is the best time to plant bulbs.
Some people begin as early as september 15 to be sure to have flowers all days of december. They keep the pots outside for some time and move them inside when it gets too cold.
But you can plant them and keep them inside all the time.

Get some good compost for potting or special bulb fibre that you soak well.
Use clean, fresh smelling, bulbs without a trace of fungus. (That goes for the compost too).
Put the bulbs close together or in layers, but make sure they won't touch each other.
Make the tip come above the sand just a tiny bit.
Keep the pots cool for a few weeks. No need to keep them dark, just cool, but not in the freezing cold.
You will enjoy to see the shoots grow.
When they're 5 cms you can raise the temperature a bit, but not too much at once.

Depending on the growth and room temperature you can move them to the livingroom.

Maybe you have to experiment a bit the first year.
Write down which bulbs you have used and what you have done.

I'm sure there will be a christmas you'll make some photographs to send to me to. :)

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Give-away for scrappers

Want to get in the mood of the december month?

Go to Paper Cakes Finds and take part in the give-away for scrappers.

It's a december daily album kit from Shabby Chic Crafts, which will bring you a lot of fun during the whole month.

When you enter don't forget to wish them a happy thanksgiving weekend, because in Canada thanksgiving is celebrated now.

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Gold, dollars and euros

Never ever before has gold been so expensive.
1 ounce, just a little bit more than 31 grams, was sold today for more than 1040 dollars.

For quite some time now investers have been selling their dollars; buying gold, because gold is considered relatively stable. They are afraid of inflation of the dollar...and by their behaviour they're making it a self-fulfilling prophesy.

Today some newspaper reported that the Golfstates are considering to stop using dollars for the oiltrade, and using euros and yens instead.
Even though there were as many articles denying this step, this couldn't prevent a further fall in the dollar.

Right now a euro is about 1.47 dollar, which is almost the topvalue

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Mercedes Sosa

With her deep warm voice she could cry, yell and dream.
When we were young, my friend and I, she was used to teach us the perfect way of singing with full use of our airways, deep, while the sound ran round through the depth of our being.

She died in Buenos Aires.
74 she was.

Ending her life after traveling around the world and after a life full of commotion.
At the beginning of the military dictatorship in Argentinia she was arrested during a concert, and a large part of her audience with her. After that she went to live in Spain.

She gave concerts with Luciano Pavarotti ,Shakira, and many others, at the most prestegious places.
She won many prices and was nominated for the Latino Grammies of this year.

She will be missed by many.

May she rest in peace

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