In September, the journal Science ran an article by eight prominent scientists titled "The Pseudoscience of Single-Sex Schooling." They argue that "There is no well-designed research showing that single-sex (SS) education improves students' academic performance, but there is evidence that sex segregation increases gender stereotyping and legitimizes institutional sexism." The lead author on the piece was professor Diane Halpern of Claremont McKenna College, past president of the American Psychological Association. The Science authors, prominent psychologists or neuroscientists, find the performance of the news media sorely lacking. "Novelty-based enthusiasm, sample bias, and anecdotes account for much of the glowing characterization of SS education in the media," they write. "Factoids" promoted by advocates keep appearing in news stories around the world, even though good science has disproved or critiqued them. In the past few years, the news media have promoted a series of myths that, as it turns out, have little evidence behind them. As more misinformation is reported, the false narrative of great differences grows stronger.
Find myths and facts at: http://www.ajr.org/Article.asp?id=5212 Thanks, Julie.

Type ingredients you have and find recipes using them at: http://www.supercook.com/

Maple syrup is a syrup usually made from the xylem sap of sugar maple, red maple, or black maple trees, although it can also be made from other maple species such as the bigleaf maple. In cold climates, these trees store starch in their trunks and roots before the winter; the starch is then converted to sugar that rises in the sap in the spring. Maple trees can be tapped by boring holes into their trunks and collecting the exuded sap. The sap is processed by heating to evaporate some of the water, leaving the concentrated syrup. Maple syrup was first collected and used by indigenous people of North America. The practice was adopted by European settlers, who gradually improved production methods. Technological improvements in the 1970s further refined syrup processing. Quebec, Canada is by far the largest producer, making about three-quarters of the world's output; Canada exports more than C$145 million (approximately US$141 million) worth of maple syrup per year. Vermont is the largest producer in the United States, generating about 5.5% of the global supply. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maple_syrup

Thanks to Joseph Farrell, Glenn Close gets shot at the end of "Fatal Attraction." Mr. Farrell, who died Wednesday at age 76, was chief executive of National Research Group, long the film industry's dominant market-research group. When NRG told studios what test audiences thought of their movies, the film bosses listened—and often made changes. In the case of "Fatal Attraction," a 1987 thriller featuring Ms. Close as a stalker, the film originally concluded with Ms. Close's character committing suicide. But Mr. Farrell's surveys showed audiences wanted her punished. The ending was reshot, and the film went on to gross more than $300 million at the box office. Another film changed based on NRG research was "The Bodyguard," which was reworked to include more action scenes featuring Kevin Costner after research showed young men were less receptive to it than young women. The film grossed more than $400 million. Hollywood has used pre-screenings to gauge audience response since the silent-film era, but Mr. Farrell drew on his earlier career with the Lou Harris polling organization to develop a systematic approach to focus groups, telephone surveys and interviews at screenings. Audience reaction was tracked to advertising, trailers, titles and plots. An accomplished painter and sculptor, he also designed furniture under the name Giuseppe Farbino.
Stephen Miller http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204319004577086782750362996.html

This summer, Darcie Chan's debut novel became an unexpected hit. It has sold more than 400,000 copies and landed on the best-seller lists alongside brand-name authors like Michael Connelly, James Patterson and Kathryn Stockett. It's been a success by any measure, save one. Ms. Chan still hasn't found a publisher. Five years ago, Ms. Chan's novel, "The Mill River Recluse," which tells the story of a wealthy Vermont widow who bestows her fortune on town residents who barely knew her, would have languished in a drawer. A dozen publishers and more than 100 literary agents rejected it. "Nobody was willing to take a chance," says Ms. Chan, a 37-year-old lawyer who drafts environmental legislation for the U.S. Senate. "It was too much of a publishing risk." This past May, Ms. Chan decided to digitally publish it herself, hoping to gain a few readers and some feedback. She bought some ads on Web sites targeting e-book readers, paid for a review from Kirkus Reviews, and strategically priced her book at 99 cents to encourage readers to try it. She's now attracting bids from foreign imprints, movie studios and audio-book publishers, without selling a single copy in print. Self-publishing has long been derided as a last resort for authors who lack the talent or savvy to hack it in the publishing business. But it has gained a patina of legitimacy as a growing number of self-published authors land on best-seller lists. Last year, 133,036 self-published titles were released, up from 51,237 in 2006, according to Bowker, a company that tracks publishing trends. Alexandra Alter Read much more at: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204770404577082303350815824.html

tit for tat A blow or some other retaliation in return for an injury from another
Origin It's tempting to assume that this little phrase is another way of saying 'this for that' and, in a way, it is. 'Tit' and 'tat' are both the names of small blows which originated as 'tip' and 'tap'. These are recorded by Charles, Duke of Orleans in a book of poems that he wrote while captive in England after the battle of Agincourt and first published circa 1466: "Strokis grete, not tippe nor tapp." The widespread unconcern about spelling and pronunciation in the Middle Ages led to 'tip', 'tap', 'tit' and 'tat' all to be variant spellings. John Heywood appears to be the first to have used 'tit for tat', in the parable The Spider and the Flie, 1556: "That is tit for tat in this altricacion [altercation]."
http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/tit-for-tat.html

Edward G. Robinson’s professional accomplishments include roles in 100 motion pictures, scores of plays and exactly one writing credit, for “Kibitzer.” He helped steer that play to critical and commercial success when it ran on Broadway for 120 performances in early 1929. Ten spirited cast members with the Actors Company Theater, a company in Manhattan that seeks to rediscover lost and forgotten plays, have been shaking “Kibitzer” out of its mothballs with a series of readings. The audience at Dec. 5's final performance seemed to appreciate its theme of thwarted ambition. Find the plot and more at: http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/07/kibitzer-a-forgotten-play-doctored-by-edward-g-robinson-gets-a-reading/

Results released 12/14/11 by the National Center for Health Statistics demonstrate that the extension of dependent coverage up to age 26 has increased the number of young adults with health insurance, by even more than prior analyses had suggested. This policy, enacted as part of the Affordable Care Act, took effect for insurance plan renewals beginning on September 23, 2010, and was designed to address the fact that young adults have traditionally been the age group least likely to have health insurance. These new estimates show that from September 2010 to June 2011, the percentage of adults 19 to 25 with insurance coverage increased from 64% to 73%, which translates into 2.5 million additional young adults with coverage. This shows a marked continuation of the coverage gains from the Affordable Care Act; estimates based on data from earlier in the year showed that this provision of the Act had led to the extension of coverage to one million young adults. http://aspe.hhs.gov/health/reports/2011/YoungAdultsACA/ib.shtml

December 16 events
1431 – Henry VI of England is crowned King of France at Notre Dame in Paris.
1773 – American Revolution: Boston Tea Party – Members of the Sons of Liberty disguised as Mohawks dump crates of tea into Boston harbor as a protest against the Tea Act.
1811 – The first two in a series of four severe earthquakes occur in the vicinity of New Madrid, Missouri. These four so-called mega-quakes are believed to be an ongoing cataclysmic danger that could reprise the 1811-12 series of 2,000 quakes that affected the lands of what would be eight of today's heartland states of the United States.
1907 – The Great White Fleet begins its circumnavigation of the world
1972 – Vijay Diwas: (Victory Day) is commemorated every 16 December in India as it marks its military victory over Pakistan in 1971 during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971.
1978 – Cleveland, Ohio becomes the first post-Depression era city to default on its loans, owing $14,000,000 to local banks.
1998 – Iraq disarmament crisis: Operation Desert Fox – The United States and United Kingdom bomb targets in Iraq.
2003 – President George W. Bush signs the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 into law. The law establishes the United States' first national standards for the sending of commercial e-mail and requires the Federal Trade Commission to enforce its provisions.
December 16 births
1770 – Ludwig van Beethoven, German composer and pianist (d. 1827)[1]
1775 – Jane Austen, English writer (d. 1817)
1899 – Sir Noel Coward, English playwright, actor and composer (d. 1973)
1900 – V. S. Pritchett, English author and critic (d. 1997)
1901 – Margaret Mead, American anthropologist (d. 1978) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/December_16