Word: pencils
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...least, the whole new school year experience was exceedingly pleasant. My parents would take me to get new school supplies, and my clever and often ear-splitting negotiating tactics meant that I had a good shot at returning home with a new, utterly useless prize, like a special bendable pencil or a cherry-scented pen. On the eve of the new school year, I would organize my new loot carefully, caressing the shiny loose-leaf folders, sharpening the pencils, testing out the pink erasers. I'd set out my clothing for the next morning; as I got older, this ritual...
...open-air, double-decker bus where a dorky tour guide gave a running commentary on the sights of the city. As if that wasn't proof enough, I later discovered I was the ultimate tourist when I schlepped through endless souvenir shops searching for the perfect Union Jack pencil case for my sister, boxers for my boyfriend and tie for my dad. Somehow I didn't mind examining every London beer stein and every London magnet in every single store while my friend looked ready to strangle me along with every other foreigner in sight...
...more measured approach is used at Baltimore's Dr. Bernard Harris Sr. Elementary School, which mailed out self-scoring parent reports last fall. After parents rate themselves in areas like provides "pencil and school supplies" or "attended back-to- school night," children bring back the transcript. So far, says principal Lucretia Coates, the rate of return has been "overwhelming." One reason: children who hand in their parents' grades get entered in a raffle to win jewelry, yo-yos or Pokemon cards...
...WEIRD: For a heady dose of silliness, check out useless knowledge.com a site where you'll get a daily quote, definitions for obscure words and answers to such penetrating questions as "What is quicksand?" and "Who invented the pencil?" A Yahoo-like index of arcana, absolutetrivia. com neatly organizes the world's minutiae, from crazy laws and criminals to an index of phobias. Both sites have weekly e-mail newsletters--handy for those who want their Net dalliances disguised as serious work memos...
...Edward Gorey was born in Chicago in 1925, to a Roman Catholic newspaper report and Episcopalian mother. He began to read and draw at a very early age; he first picked up a pencil at only 18 months, drawing passing trains. But he told the Christian Science Monitor that he was not quite impressed by those drawings...