Almanacs “Cold ensures a postcard-perfect holiday - Worcester Telegram & Gazette” plus 4 more

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• Cold ensures a postcard-perfect holiday - Worcester Telegram & Gazette
• The almanac - United Press International
• Holiday season serves as wakeup call for seniors - Pennsylvania Almanac
• AUTO ALMANAC - Owen Sound Sun Times
• Service project to help poor Nicaragua families - Pennsylvania Almanac

Cold ensures a postcard-perfect holiday - Worcester Telegram & Gazette Posted: 24 Dec 2009 03:55 AM PST Thursday, December 24, 2009 ' More than a foot of snow covered the ground on Dec. 24 last year, and many thought there was going to be a white Christmas. ' However, the temperature soared to 50 degrees that day at Worcester Regional Airport, and a 52-degree high temperature on Christmas Day erased that briefly impressive snowpack. That's not expected to happen this year. Last weekend's storm dropped more than a foot of snow in the Blackstone Valley, about seven inches in Worcester and much less than that in northern Worcester County communities, which usually get far more snow than Valley towns. Still, Gardner, for example, has enough remaining snow from previous storms to ensure a white Christmas. Today's high temperature is not expected to go much above 32 degrees, and Christmas Day should be in the 30s, which means there will be snow on the ground on Christmas. Travel conditions in New England today and tomorrow will be just about as good as they can be for late December, forecasters said. Our weather during the next two days will be far better than what forecasters predict for the Upper Midwest and Great Plains, where a blizzard and ice storm promise to cause major travel problems. AccuWeather.com meteorologist Justin Roberti said in a news release yesterday that people driving on Interstate 80 through Iowa and Nebraska will experience extreme weather conditions. Forecasters say we may have several chances in the next few weeks for similar weather. The last two weeks have seen a weather pattern that has brought a high pressure ridge to the West Coast and a low pressure trough to the East Coast. When that happens, it gets cold and sometimes stormy on the East Coast. In addition, a moderately strong El Niño, which is a warming of the water in parts of the Pacific Ocean, is bringing moisture into the United States. If the cold air and moisture mix together in the proper combination, big storms happen. There's another factor in the weather equation so far this winter, forecasters say. The weather pattern in the Arctic is set up in such a way that it keeps storms from going too far north, while, at the same time, driving cold air south. Storms could go south of Central Massachusetts and affect the Middle Atlantic Coast while this area escapes with smaller amounts of snow. This past weekend's storm was a good example of that, AccuWeather.com forecaster Joseph Bastardi said in his column on the company's Web site and in e-mail. Mr. Bastardi and long range forecaster Joseph D'Aleo said it appears that Washington, D.C., and Baltimore might have far more snow than average while Central Massachusetts will probably get its average snowfall of about 70 inches. Still, computer models are calling for storms along the East Coast toward New Year's Day and for the first week of 2010. Mr. D'Aleo, whose long-range forecasts are taken very seriously in the weather community, is concerned that the current weather pattern, which he expects to continue into next month, is very similar to that of 1976 and 1977. In those years, extreme cold hit the eastern part of the country and caused massive blizzards near some of the Great Lakes. "It certainly could happen again," Mr. D'Aleo said, "especially if there is a fresh snow cover." New snow cover unaffected by pollution reflects heat skyward, causing temperatures to fall more than if there is no snow on the ground, he explained. The Old Farmer's Almanac, which many New England residents take more seriously than more traditional forecasts, is also calling for a colder than normal winter, especially north of Chesapeake Bay. As of yesterday, the National Weather Service's forecast called for rain and possibly freezing rain this weekend. Mr. D'Aleo said December will end up colder than average and January probably will, too. He added that February should be milder. "It's unusual to get three cold months in a row," he said. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

The almanac - United Press International Posted: 24 Dec 2009 04:02 AM PST This is Thursday, Dec. 24, the 358th day of 2009 with seven to follow. The moon is waxing. The morning stars are Venus, Saturn and Mars. The evening stars are Mercury, Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune. Those born on this date are under the sign of Capricorn. They include English King John I in 1167; American diplomat Silas Deane in 1737; physician and chemist Benjamin Rush in 1745; frontiersman Christopher "Kit" Carson in 1809; English physicist and inventor James Prescott Joule in 1818; film director Michael Curtiz ("Casablanca") in 1888; composer Harry Warren ("Lullaby of Broadway," "Chattanooga Choo Choo") in 1893; industrialist, moviemaker and aviator Howard Hughes in 1905; actress Ava Gardner in 1922; author/director Nicholas Meyer in 1945 (age 64); actor Diedrich Bader ("The Drew Carey Show") in 1966 (age 43); and pop singer Ricky Martin in 1971 (age 38). On this date in history: In 1814, the Treaty of Ghent was signed by representatives of the United States and Britain, ending the War of 1812. In 1851, the Library of Congress and part of the Capitol building in Washington were destroyed by fire. In 1865, a group of Confederate veterans met in Pulaski, Tenn., to form a secret society they called the Ku Klux Klan. In 1871, Giuseppe Verdi's opera "Aida" premiered in Cairo. It had been commissioned to commemorate the opening of the Suez Canal. In 1906, Reginald A. Fessenden, a Canadian-born radio inventor, broadcast the first musical program, accompanying on violin a female singer's "O Holy Night," from Brant Rock, Mass. He discovered the superheterodyne principle, the basis for modern radio receivers. In 1942, German rocket engineers launched the first surface-to-surface guided missile. Also in 1942, Adm. Jean Louis Darlan, the French administrator of North Africa, was assassinated as a sympathizer of the French Vichy regime. In 1983, one of the United States' severest early season cold waves in history claimed nearly 300 lives. In 1989, Manuel Noriega, the object of U.S. invasion forces, took refuge at the Vatican Embassy in Panama City and asked for political asylum. In 1990, Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein threatened to attack Tel Aviv, Israel, if the allies tried to retake Kuwait. Also in 1990, the bells of St. Basil's Cathedral in Moscow rang to celebrate Christmas for the first time since the death of Lenin. In 1992, U.S. President George H.W. Bush issued pardons to former Defense Secretary Casper Weinberger and five others involved in the Reagan administration's Iran-Contra scandal. In 1994, Islamic militants hijacked an Air France Airbus. The hijacking ended two days later when the plane was stormed by French paramilitary commandos in Marseille, who killed the four militants. In 1997, a French court convicted the international terrorist known as Carlos the Jackal of the 1975 killings of three men in Paris and sentenced him to life in prison. In 2003, nine nations imposed bans on U.S. beef imports after the United States' first documented case of mad cow disease was reported in Washington state. In 2004, gunmen opened fire on a bus in northern Honduras, killing at least 23 and wounding 16. Authorities suspected a Central American youth gang. Also in 2004, a Chinese freighter wrecked in the Aleutian Islands broke apart, spilling thousands of gallons of oil into the Bering Sea. In 2005, the South Korean scientist whose research on stem cells and cloning won him international acclaim, Dr. Hwang Woo-suk, resigned after admitting he fabricated his groundbreaking paper in which he claimed to have created stem cell colonies from 11 patients. In 2006, French and U.S. intelligence agencies said the 31-mile tunnel connecting England and France had been targeted by al-Qaida terrorists for an attack. In 2007, the chairman of the Sept. 11 commission accused the CIA of interfering with the panel's work by failing to turn over tapes of agents interrogating suspected terrorists with "enhanced" techniques, including waterboarding. In 2008, in his Christmas Eve midnight mass at the Vatican in Rome, Pope Benedict XVI called for an end to exploitation of children who he said are being made "instruments of violence, instead of messengers of reconciliation and peace." A thought for the day: Eugene Field said: "Most all the time, the whole year round, there ain't no flies on me, but jest 'fore Christmas I'm as good as I kin be!" Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Holiday season serves as wakeup call for seniors - Pennsylvania Almanac Posted: 24 Dec 2009 04:09 AM PST Holiday season serves as wakeup call for seniors The holiday season may be one of the few times families get together and realize their elderly loves ones are in deep trouble and need immediate help. Adult children who may not live nearby are often shocked to come home to a holiday heartbreak with deteriorating relatives they weren't prepared to handle. So this holiday, the family might gather around the kitchen table-not only for turkey and treats, but instead for a big talk, that maps out a plan of how to care for ailing, elderly relatives. "This Thanksgiving and Christmas, thousands of adult children will come home to sights they never expected to find: elderly relatives who are lethargic and forgetful, a messy house, or bills piling up. The joy of the season is clouded with the realization that your relatives are suffering and can't make it alone," says Peter Ross, CEO of Senior Helpers, the fastest growing provider of in-home care for seniors. "This is often the best time for family members to hash out care solutions everyone agrees on." Just ask Paula Peace of Atlanta. Last Thanksgiving and Christmas, Paula and her brother realized their 87-year-old mom, Sally, needed more than just a few presents under the tree. Their mom is legally blind and needed help cooking and bathing. "We saw mom struggling and we knew the best present for her was in-home care," says Paula. "We could see mom's deterioration right in front of us." Paula encouraged her mom to hire an in-home caregiver from Senior Helpers seven days a week and now the Peaces feel peace. "Senior Helpers has enabled mom to have the support she needs to live safely and independently in her own home. We don't have to worry or feel guilty. The caregiver turned out to be a holiday present for the entire family," says Paula. The Council on Aging offers ten warning signs your older family member needs help: n Poor eating habits resulting in a decrease in weight, no appetite or missed meals. n Neglected hygiene - wearing dirty clothes, body odor, neglected nails and teeth. n Neglected home that's not as clean or sanitary as you remember growing up. n Inappropriate behavior-acting loud, quiet, paranoid or making phone calls at all hours. n Changed relationship patterns. n Burns or injuries resulting from weakness, forgetfulness or misuse of alcohol or meds. n Decreased participation in activities such as attending the senior center, book club or church. n Scorched pots and pans showing they may have forgotten about dinner cooking on the stove. n Unopened mail, newspaper piles, missed appointments. n Mishandled finances such as losing money, paying bills twice or hiding money. "It's one thing for everyone to recognize there's a problem, but then the whole family has to agree on the solution," says Ross. "That's why Senior Helpers advises families to lay out an agenda for a family meeting to reach some kind of peaceful consensus." Here are some guidelines to family planning meetings: n The person leading the meeting can be the elderly relative who anticipates needing care in the future. If that person is already needing care, an adult child, friend or relative can lead. n Encourage discussion and get input from everyone. Make sure everyone makes their feelings known. n Discuss money. Who will pay? How? If the money is coming from the elderly relative's estate, who will be executor? n At the end of the meeting, everyone present must commit to support the plan. n Write it down. Good intentions are often forgotten over time and family members must have their responsibilities right in front of them. Home Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

AUTO ALMANAC - Owen Sound Sun Times Posted: 24 Dec 2009 04:59 AM PST Posted By WHEELBASE COMMUNICATIONS Posted 1 hour ago DRAWING BOARD Toyota FT-86: An affordable rear-wheel-drive Japanese sports coupe appears set to return, thanks to a joint effort between Toyota and partner Fuji Heavy Industries that, along with Toyota, own the Subaru brand. The car's 2.0-litew horizontally opposed four-cylinder powerplant was designed by Subaru, while the platform and body is a Toyota design. Toyota hopes to sell the car in the low-$20,000 range in a couple of years, but look for Subaru to offer a pricier all-wheel-drive version. IT'S HISTORY * The very first North American road race took place in 1895 between Chicago and Waukegan, Ill., a distance of 54 miles (86 kilometres). Of the six starters, only two cars managed to complete the distance. * In 1938, in the Chinese city of Peking (now Bejing), the death penalty was the sentence for anyone caught exceeding the speed limit. EBAY WATCH 1957 Ford Thunderbird, 24 bids, sold for US $27,900: The fact that the winning bidder of this nicely restored, rust-free black 'Bird for less than US 30 grand is a clear indication as to the recessionary state of the classic-car market. The '57 features both a soft and removable "porthole" hard top, fender skirts and the original 225-horsepower 312 cubic-inch V8 connected to a three-speed automatic transmission. When market conditions improve, the new owner could resell this car for considerably more than the purchase price. Visit www.ebaymotors.com. PARTS BIN Unisteer rack-and-pinion conversion kits, about US $1,500 depending on the vehicle, www.unisteer.com: Unisteer's rack-and-pinion conversions for older cars come with everything you need to make a 1955 Chevrolet, 1970 Plymouth Barracuda or 1970 Chevrolet Camaro (to name just a few of the applications) drive with more steering precision. You'll get everything from steering rack, to the pump, to the tie rods, to the mounting brackets. Advertisement Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Service project to help poor Nicaragua families - Pennsylvania Almanac Posted: 24 Dec 2009 04:09 AM PST Service project to help poor Nicaragua families By Deana Carpenter For The Almanac writer@thealmanac.net Fourth-graders at Foster Elementary School in the Mt. Lebanon School District recently listened to a presentation about Project Chacocente, a charity that helps folks in Nicaragua who are homeless and living in the Managua City Dump. Omar Hernandez, who is from Nicaragua, is international relations director with Project Chacocente and he spoke to students about the organization. The presentation Dec. 17 at Foster Elementary was a kick-off of the fourth-graders' service project for the school year. All fourth graders in the district will participate in the service project. The students have started making "worry dolls," which they will sell for 50 cents each. The money they earn from the sale of the dolls will go toward Project Chacocente, mainly to purchase books and shelving for the library in Nicaragua that the project helped to build. Project Chacocente is a non-profit organization that was founded in 2003 by Methodist missionary Cheryl Avery. According to the organization's Web site www.outofthedump.org, the goal is to move families from the city dump of Managua, Nicaragua to the clean air and fertile soil of rural Masaya, where the people learn skills for living independently. The Managua dump is home to about 175 families, while about another 1,000 to 2,000 people arrive daily to look for food to eat and recyclable materials they can sell. The families live in and around the garbage in shacks consisting of corrugated tin, cardboard and black plastic. According to the Web site, families that are helped by the organization and are moved out of the dump sign a contract with Project Chacocente. The contract states that they promise to work with the organization for five years, at which time they receive the house they build and about two acres of land. Working with Project Chacocente involves learning to read and write, to build, to farm, to solve problems, to govern themselves, to be more knowledgeable parents, and to start a small business. The goal is to reintroduce the families into a society in which they have not participated in many years, and to teach them the skills they need to be self-sufficient. Elaine Palmer, elementary Spanish teacher at both Foster and Howe Elementary schools, said that last year the foreign language elementary school teachers introduced a service project for fifth-graders. The class made and sold friendship bracelets to raise money for Heifer International to help families in Peru purchases a llama. Palmer said that project was so successful and embraced by the students that the teachers decided to expand the service learning project to fourth-graders. "Their cultural focus is Central America," Palmer said of the fourth-grade class. "I think it's an eye-opener for the students," Palmer said about working to raise money for Project Chacocente. "We were so excited when we heard Senor Omar Hernandez could come and speak," Palmer said. Hernandez explained that the organization does not receive any assistance from the Nicaraguan government. "We depend 100 percent on donations from our friends in the United States," Hernandez said. He went on to talk about how a group of about 66 people from Christ Church in Bethel Park came to Nicaragua in July to help build the floor of the library, mix cement and help set the floor for a kitchen and auditorium. "We strongly believe in education," Hernandez said, which is why the school needed a library. He added that they are hoping to build at least three new high school classrooms and a multi-purpose outdoor court. "Education is the biggest area of Project Chacocente," Hernandez said. Grayson Kisker, a fifth grader who was in Palmer's class last year, went to Nicaragua in July with the group from Christ Church. He helped build in Nicaragua, and said it was hard because, "They build completely different from us." He added that they used large bricks instead of the smaller ones he was used to seeing. Kisker also helped cut grass while in Nicaragua, which he said was so high, "we had to cut the grass with a machete." "It was very nice to have him come to our class," said Ava Noroski, a fourth grader at Foster. She said she learned a lot about the conditions in Nicaragua from Hernandez's presentation. Vaughn Lagnese, also a fourth grader at Foster, said he liked the idea of raising money by selling the "worry dolls" so that the library can get books and shelves. "Libraries are good - they can learn lots of things by reading books," Lagnese said. He added that listening to Hernandez's presentation was fun because, "I never saw anyone from Nicaragua before." He also thought Hernandez looked "cool." Lagnese said that it makes him feel good that he's helping to save folks from the dump in Nicaragua. For information on Project Chacocente, visit www.outofthedump.org. Home Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

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