The government recently calculated the cost of raising a child from birth to 18 and came up with $160,140 for a middle income family. That doesn’t include college tuition.
But $160,140 isn’t so bad if you break it down. It translates into: $8,896.66 a year, $741.38 a month, $171.08 a week, $24.24 a day or just over a dollar an hour.
What do you get for your $160,140?
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Beware of thinkers whose minds function only when they are fuelled by a quotation.
E. M. Cioran
More Favourite Quotations
John Curtis Memorial Pamphlet – Page 1
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Memorial Photos
Photos from the wake
Slideshow
Photos from the wake
Memorial Pamphlet
A train went through a burial gate,
A bird broke forth and sang,
And trilled, and quivered, and shook his throat
Till all the churchyard rang;
And then adjusted his little notes,
And bowed and sang again.
Doubtless, he thought it meet of him
To say good-by to men.
Emily Dickinson
Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting:
The Soul that rises with us, our life’s Star,
Hath had elsewhere its setting,
And cometh from afar:
Not in entire forgetfulness,
And not in utter nakedness,
But trailing clouds of glory do we come
From God, who is our home:
Heaven lies about us in our infancy!
William Wordsworth
Venezuela Promotes Microsoft Alternative
– By JORGE RUEDA, Associated Press Writer
Wednesday, March 29, 2006
(03-29) 16:11 PST CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) —
President Hugo Chavez, long critical of big transnational companies, is promoting free open-source software as an alternative to market-dominating Microsoft Corp.
Venezuela’s science and technology ministry recently held the Latin American Free Software Installation Fair, an event promoting the use of the open-source Linux operating system and other nonproprietary programs over Microsoft’s Windows.
Groups of Linux users have been organizing similar events in other Latin American countries, including Argentina and Colombia, and the Venezuelan government has signed on as a promoter.
The technology ministry said the fair is part Venezuela’s move toward “technological sovereignty, and taking advantage of knowledge for building national scientific independence.”
Chavez, a vehement critic of the capitalist system, issued a decree in 2004 ordering all the country’s public institutions to actively move toward open-source alternatives, hoping to save millions of dollars.
Government agencies have gradually been making the change.
Chavez says previous governments spent more on licensing fees for proprietary software than social programs to fight poverty.
The Venezuelan government hasn’t focused direct criticism on Microsoft, but Chavez has regularly condemned “the hegemony of the multinationals” — saying many big companies are to blame for putting profits above the needs of poor people across Latin America.
URL: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2006/03/29/financial/f161136S97.DTL
Dr. Gerard Morton speaks to the Man to Man Club last night (March 29th) at the Prostate Cancer Awareness Night Meeting.
Dr. Morton will give me brachytherapy treatment April 4.
See also: MyProstateCancer.ca
Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting:
The Soul that rises with us, our life’s Star,
Hath had elsewhere its setting,
And cometh from afar:
Not in entire forgetfulness,
And not in utter nakedness,
But trailing clouds of glory do we come
From God, who is our home:
Heaven lies about us in our infancy!
William Wordsworth
A train went through a burial gate,
A bird broke forth and sang,
And trilled, and quivered, and shook his throat
Till all the churchyard rang;
And then adjusted his little notes,
And bowed and sang again.
Doubtless, he thought it meet of him
To say good-by to men.
Emily Dickinson
Fear for one’s daily bread destroys one’s character.
Franz Kafka
More Favourite Quotations
Jody and Judy at the “Hair” benefit performance for the Working Skills Centre
James Fukuhara heads to a job interview!
A little fog again in low-lying areas after the hill training.
Slideshow
We ran to the Rogers Centre (and back) to hear a modest Roberta Bondar talk to us about ‘change’.
Slideshow
March 13/2006, 6:30pm Sunnybrook Park, Toronto on the hill near the riding stables.
Slideshow
We could go over the cliff. You would hope not. You would hope that people see what needs to be done. It’s not rocket science. It’s not difficult. It’s not even all that costly. It’s actually about the way you think about the world.
Tim Flannery
More Favourite Quotations
We ran/walked almost 14 km this morning in the Rosedale / Forest Hill area in approx 1h 40mins.
