What is a Quafaie?


Quafaie (pronounced: kwa FAY) are fantasy creatures that exist in the fantasy writing of Hugh Kemeny, and are created by him. They are primarily in Hugh Kemeny’s Black Phoenix short stories...

To learn more, read this post: What is a Quafaie?

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Quote of the day

Your slightly bigger than the average human heart, but that's because you're a teacher.
- Aaron Bacall
(Teachers page-a-day calendar - Monday 19 January 2009)

The Newbery Medal is awarded annually by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association, to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children. While recent winners are always great reads, don't forget classics from ten, twenty, or even fifty years ago.
1999: Holes by Louis Sachar
1989: Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices by Paul Fleischman
1979: The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin
1969: The High King by Lloyd Alexander
1959: The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare
(Teachers page-a-day calendar - Tuesday 20 January 2009)

When one is out of touch with oneself, one cannot touch others.
- Anne Morrow Lindbergh
(Teachers page-a-day calendar - Wednesday 21 January 2009)

When I longed to see the world,
A teacher gave me wings
And urged me always to explore
The in and out of things.
- Becky Kelly
(Teachers page-a-day calendar - Thursday 22 January 2009)

An idea can turn to dust or magic, depending on the talent that rubs against it.
- Bill Bernbach
(Teachers page-a-day calendar - Friday 23 January 2009)

Education is always a hot conversation topic around the water cooler. People care about it. They have opinions about it. They praise it, criticize it, and argue about it. And while others are talking about education, teachers are living it. They're where the action is.
- Robert D. Ramsey
(Teachers page-a-day calendar - Sat/Sun 24/25 January 2009)

The believing mind
believes in itself.
- Zen saying
(Zen page-a-day calendar - Thursday 4 December 2008)

The artist must summon all his energy, his sincerity, and the greatest modesty in order to shatter the old clichés that come too easily to hand while working, which can suffocate the little flower that does not come, ever, the way one expects.
- Henri Matisse
(Zen page-a-day calendar - Friday 5 December 2008)

It was fated that you would find the truth.
Now, tracing your way as if in a dream,
past where the sea meets the sky,
you slowly fade from the world in your fragile boat.
How calm are the water and the moon,
and how calm the fished and dragons at the sound of your chanting.
Always the eye watches just beyond the horizon to the guiding light of your simple lantern.
- Ch'ien Ch'i
(Zen page-a-day calendar - Saturday 6 December 2008)

It does not require many words to speak the truth.
- Chief Joseph
(Zen page-a-day calendar - Sunday 7 December 2008)

Do not attempt to become Buddha.
- Dōgen
(Zen page-a-day calendar - Monday 8 December 2008)

The infinite mind is the finite of every second.
- Zen Saying
(Zen page-a-day calendar - Tuesday 9 December 2008)

If you were to put aside what you know because of what other people told you, how much of what you know do you truly know for yourself? If you look for the origin of your thoughts, of your life, of your universe, can you find it? Can you find where this moment comes from or where it goes home to?
- John Tarrant
(Zen page-a-day calendar - Wednesday 10 December 2008)

So a try-mind is more important than any Zen master. If you say "I can," then you can do something. If you say "I cannot," the you cannot do anything. Which do you like?
- Seung Sahn
(Zen page-a-day calendar - Thursday 11 December 2008)

Learn the changes and then forget them.
- Charlie Parker
(Zen page-a-day calendar - Friday 12 December 2008)

I have learned to have very modest goals for society and myself, things like clean air, green grass, children with bright eyes, not being pushed around, useful work that suits one's abilities, plain tasty food. . . .
- Paul Goodman
(Zen page-a-day calendar - Saturday 13 December 2008)

Daowu and Jianyuan visited a house in mourning to offer their condolences. Jianyuan smacked the coffin with his fist: "Alive or dead?"
Daowu said: "I'm not saying alive and I'm not saying dead."
"Why not?" Jianyuan asked.
Daowu said: "I'm not saying, I'm not saying."
Later, on their way home, Jianyuan said: "Say something now, or I'll hit you."
"Go ahead. Even if you hit me, I'm not saying anything."
After Daowu died, Jianyuan went to Shishuang and told him the story, to which Shishuang replied: "I'm not saying alive, I'm not saying dead."
"Why not?"
"I'm not saying! I'm not saying!"
Suddenly Jianyuan had a realization.
- Zen mondo
(Zen page-a-day calendar - Sunday 14 December 2008)

I am an artist . . . It's self-evident that what that word implies is looking for something all the time without ever finding it in full. It is the opposite of saying, "I know all about it. I've already found it," As far as I'm concerned, the word means, "I am looking. I am hunting for it, I am deeply involved."
- Vincent van Gogh
(Zen page-a-day calendar - Monday 15 December 2008)

A single red berry
   has fallen
      on the frost in the garden.
- Shiki
(Zen page-a-day calendar - Tuesday 16 December 2008)

Your eyebrows will be tangled up with the ancestors, you'll see with the same eyes and hear with the same ears. Won't that be wonderful?
- Wu-men, on solving a koan
(Zen page-a-day calendar - Sunday 7 December 2008)

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Quote of the day

Teachers may not always be fearless, but they definitely can't be cenophobic (afraid of new things or ideas), pedophobic (afraid of children), scolionophobic (afraid of school), or epistemophobic (afraid of knowledge).
(Teachers page-a-day calendar - Sat/Sun 17/18 January 2009)

Life is too short to be in a hurry.
- Henry David Thoreau
(Zen page-a-day calendar - Sunday 30 November 2008)

No man shouldd go through life without once experiencing healthy, even bored solitude in the wilderness, finding himself depending solely on himself and thereby learning his tru and hidden strength.
- Jack Kerouac
(Zen page-a-day calendar - Monday 1 December 2008)

Crescent moon -
bent to the shape
of the cold.
- Issa
(Zen page-a-day calendar - Tuesday 2 December 2008)

Every concept grasped by the mind becomes an obstacle in the quest to those who search.
- Gregory of Nyssa
(Zen page-a-day calendar - Wednesday 3 December 2008)

Friday, January 16, 2009

Quote of the day

Academic Anagrams
Eleven plus two = Twelve plus one
Dormitory = dirty room
United States history = Dates unite this story
Schoolmaster = the classroom
A decimal point = I'm a dot in place
(Teachers page-a-day calendar - Thursday 15 January 2009)

According to the Beloit College Mindset list, students graduating in 2009:
- Never saw the shuttle Challenger fly.
- Don't remember when "cut and paste" involved scissors.
- Never had the fun of being thrown into the "way back" of a station wagon with six other kids.
- Have always relied on Starbucks for caffeine emergencies.
(Teachers page-a-day calendar - Friday 16 January 2009)

Learn to be calm and you will always be happy.
- Paramhansa Yogananda
(Zen page-a-day calendar - Wednesday 26 November 2008)

Just watch children playing. Eat vegetable soup instead of duck stew.
- Bashō's advice to poets
(Zen page-a-day calendar - Thursday 27 November 2008)

Searching for the Truth through words and speech is like sticking your head in a bowl of glue.
- Yuan-wu
(Zen page-a-day calendar - Friday 28 November 2008)

After evening rainfall at Pa-shang,
the flying "V" of wild geese,
the leaves hanging limp and dripping,
A single lantern's pale gleam,
and empy garden wet with dew,
the crumbling walls of the monastery
. . . enough, I think, long enough:
what am I waiting for?
- Ma Tai
(Zen page-a-day calendar - Saturday 29 November 2008)

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Quote of the day

Teaching is brain surgery without breaking the skin. It should not be entered into lightly nor performed by amateurs.
- Former Alaska Teacher of the Year Daniel Walker
(Teachers page-a-day calendar - Monday 12 January 2009)

Quick Reference: Metric Conversions
centimeters x 0.3936 = inches
inces x 2.54 = centimeters
meters x 3.281 = feet
feet x 0.3048 = meters
miles x 1.609 = kilometers
kilometers x 0.6214 = miles
kilograms x 2.2046 = pounds
pounds x 0.45359 = kilograms
(Teachers page-a-day calendar - Tuesday 13 January 2009)

A kindergarted class was learning how the fur on some animals changes color with the seasons. When the teacher bent down to tie her shoe, a student observed her head of graying hari and exclaimed, "Teacher, are you getting ready for winter?"
(Teachers page-a-day calendar - Wednesday 14 January 2009)

The only thing to see.
- Auguste Rodin
(Zen page-a-day calendar - Thursday 20 November 2008)

Disciple: "What is Tao?"
Hsiang-yen: "In the dry woods the dragon is singing."
- Zen mondo
(Zen page-a-day calendar - Friday 21 November 2008)

Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards.
- Søren Kierkegaard
(Zen page-a-day calendar - Saturday 22 November 2008)

Everything comes from your own heart. This is what one ancient called "bringing out the family treasure."
- Yuan-wu
(Zen page-a-day calendar - Sunday 23 November 2008)

Never let your sense of morals keep you from doing what's right.
- Isaac Asimov
(Zen page-a-day calendar - Monday 24 November 2008)

If the wrong person preaches a right teaching, even a right teaching becomes wrong. If the right person expounds a wrong teaching, even a wrong teaching becomes right.
- Muso Kukushi
(Zen page-a-day calendar - Tuesday 25 November 2008)

Sunday, January 11, 2009

Quote of the day

Another monk asked the classic question: "What is the meaning of Bodhidharma's coming from the west?"
Kuei-shan answered: "A fine large lantern."
(Zen page-a-day calendar - Tuesday 18 November 2008)

You are not allowed to travel at night, but you must arrive before daybreak.
- Zen koan
(Zen page-a-day calendar - Wednesday 19 November 2008)

Saturday, January 10, 2009

Quote of the day

Q: What do get if you cross one principal with another principal?
A: Don't do it. Principals don't like to be crossed.
(Teachers page-a-day calendar - Sat/Sun 10/11 January 2009)

On whose door does the moonlight not shine?
- Zen saying
(Zen page-a-day calendar - Sunday 16 November 2008)

If you want to extend the light of the dharma, let it first illumine our own heart.
- Rengetsu
(Zen page-a-day calendar - Monday 17 November 2008)

Friday, January 9, 2009

Quote of the day

Fun Facts: Ancient History
In 625 B.C., metal coins were introduced in Greece, They replaced grain - usually barley - as the medium of exchange. Stamped with a likeness of an ear of wheat, the new coins were lighter and easier to transport than grain, and did not get moldy.
The ancient Egyptians defined the hour to be one-twelfth of the time between sunrise and sunset, thus their hour's length was different from one day to the next, and was not the same during the day as it was at night.
The ancient Romans built a network of roads totaling fifty thousand miles - longer than the U.S. interstate highway system.
- www.coolquiz.com
(Teachers page-a-day calendar - Wednesday 7 January 2009)

School Satire
During his American history class at Hebron Elementary School, fifth-grader Jake Hensley was unable to produce a single hilarious disruptive comment regarding the Wilmot Proviso, an 1846 rider to a Congressional appropriations bill that attempted to outlaw slavery in the territory acquired from the Mexican-American War.
"I completely blanked," said Hensley, who firmly established his class-clown status earlier in the year during a lesson on Revolutionary War-era statesman John Hancock. "It was getting so close to the end of class that I almost considered 'Smellmot Proviso.' I think I'm losing my touch."
Hensley did manage to redeem himself in his last-period English class by delivering a solid five minutes on the third chapter of Hatchet.
- www.theonion.com
(Teachers page-a-day calendar - Thursday 8 January 2009)

An inquisitive little girl in kindergarten leaned over and admired my watch. Since it had no numbers on its face, she asked how I knew what time it was. Trying not to disturb the rest of the class, I whispered, "I just know." She asked, "Why do you need a watch then?"
- Tammy Richardson in Reader's Digest
(Teachers page-a-day calendar - Friday 9 January 2009)

It is a big mistake to think that the best way to express yourself is to do whatever you want, acting however you please. This is not expressing yourself. When you have many possible ways of expressing yourself, you are not sure what to do, so you will behave superficially. If you know what to do exactly, and you do it, you can express yourself fully.
- Shunryu Suzuki
(Zen page-a-day calendar - Monday 10 November 2008)

A man needs a little madness, or else he never dares cut the rope and be free.
- Nikos Kazantzakis
(Zen page-a-day calendar - Tuesday 11 November 2008)

Life is but a day; a fragile dew-drop on its perilous way
from a tree's summit.
- John Keats
(Zen page-a-day calendar - Wednesday 12 November 2008)

The firmest fayth is found in the fewest woordes.
- Edward Dyer
(Zen page-a-day calendar - Thursday 13 November November 2008)

Sin and blessing are all empty. The snake swallows the frog. The toad sucks up the worms. The hawk eats the sparrows. The pheasant eats the snake. The cat catches the rat. The big fish devours the smaller one. And everything is all right. The monk who offended against the commandments does not fall into hell.
- Zen saying
(Zen page-a-day calendar - Friday 14 November 2008)

Play is the exultation of the possible.
- Martin Burber
(Zen page-a-day calendar - Saturday 15 November 2008)

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Quote of the day

A school district in central Ohio is trying a new kind of incentive pay - for students. In return for doing well on annual exams, each student can earn up to $100. And in schools near Miami, students can win pizza parties, tickets to the prom, and even iPods in exchange for passing scores on their new state science exams. Proponents of these kinds of incentives maintain that this is one way to encourage academic achievement, particularly when many schools' livelihoods depend on test scores. Others argue that these are bribes, and don't encourage meaningful learning.
In an Edutopia online survey, 32 percent of voters said such incentives are harmless, produce results, and, especially for low-income, at-risk students, may provide motivation where there was none before; 69 percent disagreed, stating that such rewards don't encourage learning for learning's sake and coincide with an overemphasis on high-stakes testing. The remaining 9 percent of voters were undecided.
- www.edutopia.org
(Teachers page-a-day calendar - Tuesday 6 January 2009)

A monk asked his master the classic question: "What is the meaning of Bodhidharma's coming from the west?"
The master replied: "No idea whatever in this."
Later, learning of the exchange, Ch'i-an commented: "Two corpses in one coffin."
- Zen mondo
(Zen page-a-day calendar - Saturday 8 November 2008)

If I can get out of the way, if I can be pure enough, if I can be selfless enough, and if I can be generous and loving and caring enough to abandon what I have and my own preconceived, silly notions of what I think I am - and become truly who in fact I am, which is really just another child of God - then the music can really use me. And therein lies my fulfillment. That's when the music starts to happen.
- John McLauchlin

(Zen page-a-day calendar - Sunday 9 November 2008)

Monday, January 5, 2009

Quote of the day

How to Be a Kid Again
Refuse to eat crusts.
Make somebody laughjust when they start to drink something.
Stick your head out the car window and moo if you see a cow.
(Teachers page-a-day calendar - Monday 5 January 2009)

A monk asked Tosu: "Is there a dragon howl in a dead tree?"
Tosu said: "I say there's a lion roar in a skull."
- Zen mondo
(Zen page-a-day calendar - Thursday 6 November 2008)

It wasn't until quite late that I discovered how easy it is to say "I don't know!"
- William Somerset Maugham
(Zen page-a-day calendar - Friday 7 November 2008)

Sunday, January 4, 2009

Quote of the day

One day someone asked Layman P'ang: "Is Zen difficult or is it easy?"
"It is like trying to hit the moon with a stick," Layman P'ang answered Very difficult."
So Zen is very difficult, the man thought. He went to Layman P'ang's wife and said" "Your husband told me that Zen is very difficult. Let me ask you - is Zen difficult or easy?"
She laughed and said: "Oh no, Zen is very easy, like touching your nose when you wash your face in the morning."
Still not satisfied, the man went to Layman P'ang's son and repeated what the husband and wife told him. The son replied: "If you think Zen is difficult, it's difficult. If you think Zen is easy, it's easy."
Now more confused than ever, the man went to Layman P'an's daughter and asked if Zen was difficult or easy or neither. Her enlightening answer:
"Go drink tea."
- Zen mondo
(Zen page-a-day calendar - Tuesday 4 November 2008)

This matter [i.e., Zen] is like a great mass of fire; when you approach it your face is sure to be scorched. It is again like a sword about to be drawn; when it is once out of the scabbard, someone is sure to lose his life. But if you neither fling away the scabbard nor approach the fire, you are no better than a piece of rock or wood. Coming to this pass one has to be quite a resolute character full of spirit.
- Tai-hui
(Zen page-a-day calendar - Wednesday 5 November 2008)

Saturday, January 3, 2009

Quotes for Saturday 3 January 2009

Teacher Tip
Lawyers do it. Doctors do it. Educators should do it! No, I'm not talking about making a lot of money! I'm talking about prominently displaying educational degrees and professional certificates. Displaying one's credentials will help you appear professional and legitimate. It's very impressive and reinforces to the public the amount of effort it takes to become a teacher and to maintain certification.
- Tom Walters, Jericho, Vermont; Works4Me on www.nea.org
(Teachers page-a-day calendar - Sat/Sun 3/4 January 2009)

If all waves of the Zen stream were alike, innumerable ordinary people would get bogged down.
- Zen saying
(Zen page-a-day calendar - Sunday 2 November 2008)

Try and be a sheet of paper with nothing on it. Be a spot of ground where nothing is growing, where something might be planted, a seed, possibly, from the Absolute.
- Rumi
(Zen page-a-day calendar - Monday 3 November 2008)

Friday, January 2, 2009

Quotes for Friday 2 January 2009

Quotes of the Day:

A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination.
- Nelson Mandela
(Teachers page-a-day calendar - Thursday 1 January 2009)

Behind Every Famous Person Is A Fabulous Teacher.
Acress America Fererra's high school drama teacher, Sue Freitag, says she has "the best job in the world . . . I literally get to play all day." America stays in touch with her former teacher, saying, "Sometimes all you need is a good Teach(ear)!"
- TeachersCount National Social Marketing Campaign
(Teachers page-a-day calendar - Friday 2 January 2009)

The observer is the observed.
- Krishnamurti
(Zen page-a-day calendar - Wednesday 29 October 2008)

Everything we do is in the service of the self - and there is no self.
- Zen saying
(Zen page-a-day calendar - Thursday 30 October 2008)

Ageneral may establish peace, but it is not for the general to seek peace.
- Zen saying
(Zen page-a-day calendar - Friday 31 October 2008)

The Way does not need cultivation - just don't defile it. Zen does not need study - the important thing is stopping the mind.
- Huang-long
(Zen page-a-day calendar - Saturday 1 November 2008)