I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says, “If you see it in The Sun, it’s so.” Please tell me the truth; is there a Santa Claus?
Virginia O’Hanlon
115 W. 95th St.
Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except (what) they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men’s or children’s, are little. In this great universe of ours, man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.
Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! How dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry; no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.
Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies! You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that’s no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.
You may tear apart the baby’s rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world, there is nothing else real and abiding.
No Santa Claus! Thank God! He lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.
Francis P. Church, editorial writer for The New York Sun.
1. No known species of reindeer can fly, but there are 300,000 species of living organisms yet to be classified, and while most of these are insects and germs, this does not completely rule out flying reindeer which only Santa has seen.
2. There are 2 billion children in the world (persons under 18). But since Santa doesn't (appear) to handle Muslim, Hindu, Jewish, or Buddhist children, that reduces the workload by 85% of the total, leaving 378 million according to the Population Reference Bureau. At an average (census) rate of 3.5 children per household, that's 91.8 million homes. One presumes there is at least one good child per house.
3. Santa has 31 hours of Christmas to work with, thanks to the different time zones and the rotation of the earth, assuming he travels east to west (which seems logical). This works out to 822.6 visits per second. This is to say that for each Christian household with good children, Santa has 1/1000th of a second to park, hop out of the sleigh, jump down the chimney, fill the stocking, distribute the remaining presents under the tree, eat whatever snacks have been left, get back up the chimney, get back into the sleigh and move on to the next house. Asusming that each of these 91.8 million stops are evenly distributed around the earth, which, of course, we know to be false, but for the purposes of our calculations we will accept, we are now talking about 0.78 miles per household, for a total trip of 75.5 million miles, not counting stops to do what most of us do at least once every 31 hours, plus feeding, etc. That means that Santa's sleigh is moving at 650 miles per second, 3000 times the speed of sound. For purposes of comparison, the fastest man-made vehicle on earth, the Ulysses space probe, moves at a poky 27.4 miles per second - a conventional reindeer can run, at tops 15 miles per hour.
4. The payload on the sleigh adds another interesting element. Assuming each child gets nothing more than a medium sized lego set (2 pounds), the sleigh is carrying 321,300 tons, not counting Santa, who is invariably described as overweight. On land, conventional reindeer can pull no more than 300 pounds. Even granting the "flying reindeer" can pull TEN TIMES the normal amount, we cannot do the job with eight, or even nine. We need 214,200 reindeer. This increased the payload - not even counting the weight of the sleigh to 353,430 tons. Again, for comparison - this is four times the weight of the Queen Elizabeth - 5,353,000 tons travelling at 650 miles per second creates enormous air resistance. This will heat the reindeer up in the same fashion as spacecrafts re-entering the earth's atmosphere. The lead pair will absorb 14.3 quintillion joules of energy per second each. In short, they will burst into flames almost instantaneously, exposing the reindeer behind them, and creating a deafening sonic boom in their wake. The entire reindeer team will be vaporized with 4.26 thousandths of a second. Santa, meanwhile, will be subject to centrifugal forces 17,500.06 times greater than gravity. A 250 pound Santa (which seems ludicrously slim) would be pinned to the back of the sleigh by a 4,315,015 pound force.
Season of giving 'A caring and empathetic community' 'A caring and empathetic community' By Joan Hellyer Staff Writer Posted on December 25, 2012 Students throughout Lower Bucks County had the chance to break away from their regular studies and learn a lesson in giving before schools closed for the holiday break. Kids participated in various gift and winter clothing collections, toy drives, adopt-a-family or adopt-a-child programs, and other fundraisers to help people from their communities who are in need. Many schools collected money to donate to the Bucks County Courier Times-Kiwanis Give A Christmas Fund, which will help buy thousands of dollars worth of gift cards and provide comfort to those spending the holidays in shelters, organizers said. Others stocked up on goods donated by students to create festive food baskets to brighten the holidays of the less fortunate or donated money to help the homeless. “We truly have a caring and empathetic community with a tremendous giving spirit,” said Brian Kern, principal of Oliver Heckman Elementary School in the Neshaminy School District. Several area outreach efforts focused on providing assistance to Hurricane Sandy victims. One project restocked library books lost during the storm. St. Ignatius of Antioch School in Lower Makefield has focused on the Sandy victims since November, Principal Mary Ann DiTommaso said. The students and staff collected coats, blankets and cleaning supplies to help a community in the Bronx. “These people suffered major damage from the hurricane,” DiTommaso said. The school staged a similar drive for another community hit hard by Sandy in December, she said. Neshaminy High School’s Interact Club used a pajama drive to help collect warm pajamas, slippers and underwear to donate to Surf Fisherman for Recovery, organizers said. Jim Hill, a 1984 Neshaminy graduate and father of a Neshaminy junior, formed the group to help families along the Jersey shore recover from Sandy, said Interact leader Suzi Drake. Students also got to share festive cheer by serving up holiday meals to local senior citizens in several communities, including Pennsbury and Bensalem. Plus, other students used their creativity to give to others during the holiday season. Students at Morrisville High School built dozens of wood toys in their shop class and donated them to the Ivins Outreach Center in the borough, officials said. The toys are to be donated to kids in need.
This blog reached a milestone of sorts today. It passed 100,000 pageviews since its inception on April 11, 2011. Not too shabby. Thanks for stopping by, and stay classy! But mostly, thanks for stopping by.
If her foot was armed this might not have happened, just sayin'.
Girl, 5, Accidentally Shoots Self in Foot
By Dan Stamm
| Wednesday, Dec 12, 2012 | Updated 1:46 PM EST
A 5-year-old Kensington girl shot herself while playing with a gun Tuesday night, according to Philadelphia Police.
The girl was home with her two siblings and her father along the 1800 block of E Wishart Street when the gun went off -- hitting her in the big toe, police said.
The girl’s father rushed her to St. Christopher’s Hospital with what police called minor injuries.
It’s unclear how the girl got a hold of her father’s gun and if her siblings were also playing with it.
The investigation would continue into Wednesday. Police did say the girl’s father owns the gun because he works in private security.
Posted: Friday, December 28, 2012 5:00 am | Updated: 7:31 am, Fri Dec 28, 2012.
By DANNY ADLER Staff writer
Marcella McAdams has been teaching health and physical education teacher at Bucks County Technical High School since August 2006.
She was recently named 2012 Secondary Physical Education Teacher of the Year by the Pennsylvania State Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance.
“It has always been an award that I have yearned for and it feels good to have received it,” McAdams told the newspaper.
She won the Young Professional of the Year in 2008, also serving as vice president in 2010 and president in 2011 of the southeastern district committee for the same organization that now bestows her the teacher of the year award.
She was interviewed via email by the newspaper earlier this month.
Q: When did you start teaching? And how has physical education changed over the years? What challenges are there now as opposed to those when you started?
A: I started substituting in 2005 at the Neshaminy School District. I was hired full time at Bucks County Technical High School in August 2006. Physical education has changed over the years by becoming more focused on lifelong fitness instead of team sports. The main challenge our profession faces today is the rising obesity rates. Our nation needs to spend less time sitting in seats and more time moving their bodies!
Q: In the age of iPads and constant internet connectivity, how do you encourage teens to stay active?
A: Our department encourages students to stay active by introducing them to a variety of activities so hopefully at least one of them will interest them enough to stay involved in it for the rest of their life. We also try and use the Internet to our advantage by educating our students on apps and websites they can use to help them calculate their caloric intake as well as how many calories they would burn during certain activities. www.supertrakcer.usda.gov is an amazing website that has helped our students.
Q: What threats do young people in our area face? And how can health and fitness combat those threats?
A: Again, one main threat to our young people today is obesity. Teaching our students how to count calories, how to read food labels, what are correct portion sizes, what is their personal target heart rate, and many other concepts will greatly decrease their chances of becoming obese or getting diabetes and/or heart disease.
Q: What has been your biggest professional achievement since you began teaching?
A: My biggest professional achievement since I began teaching is this award!
Q: What motivates you?
A: Wow! Where do I start? First, I would say Gerry Rooney, my mentor and department chairperson motivates me. I have to thank him for nominating me for the award and for also inspiring me to be active at my local, district, and state levels. Second, I have to thank the other 4 amazing health and physical education teachers in my department. All five of them have inspired and motivated me in their own unique way and have helped shape me into the teacher I am today. Third, I would have to thank my administration for motivating and supporting me in every way. It is much easier to love your job when you feel appreciated and supported! Finally, I would have to thank my family and friends for motivating me. Especially with twin two-year-old boys at home, I have to stay healthy and active just to keep up with them!
Congratulations to Ms. McAdams. It's refreshing to see some schools still care about students as people, not just test scores. Who cares if you scored well in the PSSA's if you're going to have a heart attack at 30?
Too bad Morrisville doesn't have the same values. When I was in school (graduated in the 2000's), there were 4 PE teachers in the district, then 3. Now there are only 2, too bad b/c both of which had really turned it around from old school.
Posted: Monday, December 31, 2012 12:00 am | Updated: 6:12 am, Mon Dec 31, 2012.
By GEMA MARIA DUARTE Staff writer
Bristol public school officials are gearing up for the beginning of a tough budget season next month.
By the end of January, districts across the commonwealth have to vote whether their 2013-2014 school year budgets will consist of exceptions that allow them to raise taxes above the state Act I index.
As of Friday, Bristol Borough School District officials continued to work on the numbers. They expect to have more concrete figures next week, at which time they’ll determine if they’ll have a budget presentation at the Jan. 10 or the Jan. 24 meeting, officials said Friday.
The televised school board meetings are at 7 p.m. in borough hall, 250 Pond Street.
For the last few years, the money-strapped district has been short almost $1 million at the beginning of each budget season. By the end of budget discussions, the district has managed to balance the budget without increasing taxes. Officials did so by cutting programs and staff and other measures.
Time and time again, school board members have said the district is running with a bare-bones budget and there isn’t much more to cut. They’ve also noted that increasing taxes would be a hardship on the community.
In the fall, top district officials met with state education representatives to discuss Bristol’s financial plight, At that time, they were told they shouldn’t expect more state funding than they received during this school year.
January’s vote will be the first in a series through June 30. That’s when state law requires every public school district to adopt a final operating budget for the 2013-2014 school year.
Bristol’s current operating budget is $21 million. The owner of the borough’s average assessed property of $16,400 paid about $2,526 in school taxes for this school year.
15 comments:
Dear editor:
I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says, “If you see it in The Sun, it’s so.” Please tell me the truth; is there a Santa Claus?
Virginia O’Hanlon
115 W. 95th St.
Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except (what) they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men’s or children’s, are little. In this great universe of ours, man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.
Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! How dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry; no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.
Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies! You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that’s no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.
You may tear apart the baby’s rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world, there is nothing else real and abiding.
No Santa Claus! Thank God! He lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.
Francis P. Church, editorial writer for The New York Sun.
Santa Claus: an Engineering Analysis
1. No known species of reindeer can fly, but there are 300,000 species of living organisms yet to be classified, and while most of these are insects and germs, this does not completely rule out flying reindeer which only Santa has seen.
2. There are 2 billion children in the world (persons under 18). But since Santa doesn't (appear) to handle Muslim, Hindu, Jewish, or Buddhist children, that reduces the workload by 85% of the total, leaving 378 million according to the Population Reference Bureau. At an average (census) rate of 3.5 children per household, that's 91.8 million homes. One presumes there is at least one good child per house.
3. Santa has 31 hours of Christmas to work with, thanks to the different time zones and the rotation of the earth, assuming he travels east to west (which seems logical). This works out to 822.6 visits per second. This is to say that for each Christian household with good children, Santa has 1/1000th of a second to park, hop out of the sleigh, jump down the chimney, fill the stocking, distribute the remaining presents under the tree, eat whatever snacks have been left, get back up the chimney, get back into the sleigh and move on to the next house. Asusming that each of these 91.8 million stops are evenly distributed around the earth, which, of course, we know to be false, but for the purposes of our calculations we will accept, we are now talking about 0.78 miles per household, for a total trip of 75.5 million miles, not counting stops to do what most of us do at least once every 31 hours, plus feeding, etc. That means that Santa's sleigh is moving at 650 miles per second, 3000 times the speed of sound. For purposes of comparison, the fastest man-made vehicle on earth, the Ulysses space probe, moves at a poky 27.4 miles per second - a conventional reindeer can run, at tops 15 miles per hour.
4. The payload on the sleigh adds another interesting element. Assuming each child gets nothing more than a medium sized lego set (2 pounds), the sleigh is carrying 321,300 tons, not counting Santa, who is invariably described as overweight. On land, conventional reindeer can pull no more than 300 pounds. Even granting the "flying reindeer" can pull TEN TIMES the normal amount, we cannot do the job with eight, or even nine. We need 214,200 reindeer. This increased the payload - not even counting the weight of the sleigh to 353,430 tons. Again, for comparison - this is four times the weight of the Queen Elizabeth - 5,353,000 tons travelling at 650 miles per second creates enormous air resistance. This will heat the reindeer up in the same fashion as spacecrafts re-entering the earth's atmosphere. The lead pair will absorb 14.3 quintillion joules of energy per second each. In short, they will burst into flames almost instantaneously, exposing the reindeer behind them, and creating a deafening sonic boom in their wake. The entire reindeer team will be vaporized with 4.26 thousandths of a second. Santa, meanwhile, will be subject to centrifugal forces 17,500.06 times greater than gravity. A 250 pound Santa (which seems ludicrously slim) would be pinned to the back of the sleigh by a 4,315,015 pound force.
I hope Santa brings you a slide ruler...
Engineers are such killjoys!
May your Christmas be rich with family love, warm with friendship, happy with life's blessings.
Merry Christmas Everyone!
- Dave & Janet
Season of giving
'A caring and empathetic community'
'A caring and empathetic community' By Joan Hellyer Staff Writer
Posted on December 25, 2012
Students throughout Lower Bucks County had the chance to break away from their regular studies and learn a lesson in giving before schools closed for the holiday break.
Kids participated in various gift and winter clothing collections, toy drives, adopt-a-family or adopt-a-child programs, and other fundraisers to help people from their communities who are in need.
Many schools collected money to donate to the Bucks County Courier Times-Kiwanis Give A Christmas Fund, which will help buy thousands of dollars worth of gift cards and provide comfort to those spending the holidays in shelters, organizers said.
Others stocked up on goods donated by students to create festive food baskets to brighten the holidays of the less fortunate or donated money to help the homeless.
“We truly have a caring and empathetic community with a tremendous giving spirit,” said Brian Kern, principal of Oliver Heckman Elementary School in the Neshaminy School District.
Several area outreach efforts focused on providing assistance to Hurricane Sandy victims.
One project restocked library books lost during the storm.
St. Ignatius of Antioch School in Lower Makefield has focused on the Sandy victims since November, Principal Mary Ann DiTommaso said.
The students and staff collected coats, blankets and cleaning supplies to help a community in the Bronx. “These people suffered major damage from the hurricane,” DiTommaso said.
The school staged a similar drive for another community hit hard by Sandy in December, she said.
Neshaminy High School’s Interact Club used a pajama drive to help collect warm pajamas, slippers and underwear to donate to Surf Fisherman for Recovery, organizers said.
Jim Hill, a 1984 Neshaminy graduate and father of a Neshaminy junior, formed the group to help families along the Jersey shore recover from Sandy, said Interact leader Suzi Drake.
Students also got to share festive cheer by serving up holiday meals to local senior citizens in several communities, including Pennsbury and Bensalem.
Plus, other students used their creativity to give to others during the holiday season.
Students at Morrisville High School built dozens of wood toys in their shop class and donated them to the Ivins Outreach Center in the borough, officials said. The toys are to be donated to kids in need.
This blog reached a milestone of sorts today. It passed 100,000 pageviews since its inception on April 11, 2011. Not too shabby. Thanks for stopping by, and stay classy! But mostly, thanks for stopping by.
A lot of good things have happened since 4/11/11, to name but a few
Hellmann CPA - defeated
Mihok - defeated
Radosti - defeated
Ruthrauf - defeated
Dan Dingle - on the board
Dewilde - not board Pres anymore
Damon Miller - now board Pres
Teachers Contract was settled reasonably and amicably.
The sleepy mumbling lawyer was replaced.
If her foot was armed this might not have happened, just sayin'.
Girl, 5, Accidentally Shoots Self in Foot
By Dan Stamm
| Wednesday, Dec 12, 2012 | Updated 1:46 PM EST
A 5-year-old Kensington girl shot herself while playing with a gun Tuesday night, according to Philadelphia Police.
The girl was home with her two siblings and her father along the 1800 block of E Wishart Street when the gun went off -- hitting her in the big toe, police said.
The girl’s father rushed her to St. Christopher’s Hospital with what police called minor injuries.
It’s unclear how the girl got a hold of her father’s gun and if her siblings were also playing with it.
The investigation would continue into Wednesday. Police did say the girl’s father owns the gun because he works in private security.
Meet PA's high school gym teacher of the year
Posted: Friday, December 28, 2012 5:00 am | Updated: 7:31 am, Fri Dec 28, 2012.
By DANNY ADLER Staff writer
Marcella McAdams has been teaching health and physical education teacher at Bucks County Technical High School since August 2006.
She was recently named 2012 Secondary Physical Education Teacher of the Year by the Pennsylvania State Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance.
“It has always been an award that I have yearned for and it feels good to have received it,” McAdams told the newspaper.
She won the Young Professional of the Year in 2008, also serving as vice president in 2010 and president in 2011 of the southeastern district committee for the same organization that now bestows her the teacher of the year award.
She was interviewed via email by the newspaper earlier this month.
Q: When did you start teaching? And how has physical education changed over the years? What challenges are there now as opposed to those when you started?
A: I started substituting in 2005 at the Neshaminy School District. I was hired full time at Bucks County Technical High School in August 2006. Physical education has changed over the years by becoming more focused on lifelong fitness instead of team sports. The main challenge our profession faces today is the rising obesity rates. Our nation needs to spend less time sitting in seats and more time moving their bodies!
Q: In the age of iPads and constant internet connectivity, how do you encourage teens to stay active?
A: Our department encourages students to stay active by introducing them to a variety of activities so hopefully at least one of them will interest them enough to stay involved in it for the rest of their life. We also try and use the Internet to our advantage by educating our students on apps and websites they can use to help them calculate their caloric intake as well as how many calories they would burn during certain activities. www.supertrakcer.usda.gov is an amazing website that has helped our students.
Q: What threats do young people in our area face? And how can health and fitness combat those threats?
A: Again, one main threat to our young people today is obesity. Teaching our students how to count calories, how to read food labels, what are correct portion sizes, what is their personal target heart rate, and many other concepts will greatly decrease their chances of becoming obese or getting diabetes and/or heart disease.
Q: What has been your biggest professional achievement since you began teaching?
A: My biggest professional achievement since I began teaching is this award!
Q: What motivates you?
A: Wow! Where do I start? First, I would say Gerry Rooney, my mentor and department chairperson motivates me. I have to thank him for nominating me for the award and for also inspiring me to be active at my local, district, and state levels. Second, I have to thank the other 4 amazing health and physical education teachers in my department. All five of them have inspired and motivated me in their own unique way and have helped shape me into the teacher I am today. Third, I would have to thank my administration for motivating and supporting me in every way. It is much easier to love your job when you feel appreciated and supported! Finally, I would have to thank my family and friends for motivating me. Especially with twin two-year-old boys at home, I have to stay healthy and active just to keep up with them!
Congratulations to Ms. McAdams. It's refreshing to see some schools still care about students as people, not just test scores. Who cares if you scored well in the PSSA's if you're going to have a heart attack at 30?
Too bad Morrisville doesn't have the same values. When I was in school (graduated in the 2000's), there were 4 PE teachers in the district, then 3. Now there are only 2, too bad b/c both of which had really turned it around from old school.
Slash and burn.
Bristol getting ready for 2013-14 budget season
Posted: Monday, December 31, 2012 12:00 am | Updated: 6:12 am, Mon Dec 31, 2012.
By GEMA MARIA DUARTE Staff writer
Bristol public school officials are gearing up for the beginning of a tough budget season next month.
By the end of January, districts across the commonwealth have to vote whether their 2013-2014 school year budgets will consist of exceptions that allow them to raise taxes above the state Act I index.
As of Friday, Bristol Borough School District officials continued to work on the numbers. They expect to have more concrete figures next week, at which time they’ll determine if they’ll have a budget presentation at the Jan. 10 or the Jan. 24 meeting, officials said Friday.
The televised school board meetings are at 7 p.m. in borough hall, 250 Pond Street.
For the last few years, the money-strapped district has been short almost $1 million at the beginning of each budget season. By the end of budget discussions, the district has managed to balance the budget without increasing taxes. Officials did so by cutting programs and staff and other measures.
Time and time again, school board members have said the district is running with a bare-bones budget and there isn’t much more to cut. They’ve also noted that increasing taxes would be a hardship on the community.
In the fall, top district officials met with state education representatives to discuss Bristol’s financial plight, At that time, they were told they shouldn’t expect more state funding than they received during this school year.
January’s vote will be the first in a series through June 30. That’s when state law requires every public school district to adopt a final operating budget for the 2013-2014 school year.
Bristol’s current operating budget is $21 million. The owner of the borough’s average assessed property of $16,400 paid about $2,526 in school taxes for this school year.
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