What's in a Box?

A balikbayan box is gift box sent by an overseas Filipino to family and friends in the Philippines.  There are several companies specializing in the shipment of balikbayan boxes.  The industry organization PASA (Philipino American Shipper’s Association) enables approved companies to more easily get shipments through inspections and to help senders avoid service problems. Bento…

What’s in a Box?

A balikbayan box is gift box sent by an overseas Filipino to family and friends in the Philippines.  There are several companies specializing in the shipment of balikbayan boxes.  The industry organization PASA (Philipino American Shipper’s Association) enables approved companies to more easily get shipments through inspections and to help senders avoid service problems. Bento…

Teaching Grit

Teaching Social and Emotional Skills in Schools | MindShift. – 2012 September 20 “Back to School” on This American Life, Episode 474, first aired 2012 September 14 How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character by Paul Tough

“Jack of Fables”

The nine volume graphic novel series Jack of Fables written by Bill Willingham tells the story of the trickster Jack (e.g. Little Jack Horner, Jack the Giant Killer (from Jack and the Beanstalk), and Jack B. Nimble – with overtones of the Jackal from other mythologies), his son Jack Frost, sidekick Gary the Pathetic Fallacy…

Text Fragments

(Refer to the Writing Notes post for word usage and to Food Vocabulary for food-related words and terms.  Also see Remnants and Famous Quotes.) Interesting Words Contronyms A contronym is a word that has opposite meanings.  For example, when Michael Jackson said that he was ‘bad’ in his video “Bad”, he meant that he was really…

One Piece

(For a review of the One Piece Japanese manga series, see the One Piece post on AuntPennies.com.)  In more than six dozen volumes available in the series the main characters have evolved, particularly those who started as adolescents.  Unfortunately this has also added to the number of Barbie doll figures.  On the positive side, Luffy…

Importing high-tech workers

Congress must reform immigration laws that send top STEM graduates to China – CSMonitor.com. 2012 September 10 print edition Rather than focusing on keeping foreign students of US STEM programs in the US post-graduation, I think that we should focus on enabling more US students to graduate from both US and foreign STEM programs and…

Remnants

(Refer to the Writing Notes post for word usage and to Food Vocabulary for food-related words and terms.  Also see Text Fragments and Famous Quotes.) “find your Prints Charming” – from a 2012 September 18 Bed Bath & Beyond email advertisement for ordering decorator fabrics online. From the Jim Butcher short story “Day Off”, “he who…