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?

Friday, November 30, 2012

Daily Inspiration

Fire is the test of gold; adversity, of strong men.
- Seneca
inspire daily calendar Fri 30 Nov 2012


I wake up every morning determined both to change the world and have one hell of a good time. Sometimes this makes planning the day a little difficult.
- E.B. White
Teachers daily calendar Sat/Sun 26/27 Dec 2009

Thursday, November 29, 2012

Daily Inspiration

What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.
- Oliver Wendell Holmes
inspire daily calendar Thu 29 Nov 2012


The purpose of life is to increase the warm heart. Think of other people. Serve other people sincerely. No cheating.
- The Dalai Lama
Teachers daily calendar Fri 25 Dec 2009

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Daily Inspiration

Failing to plan is planning to fail.
- John Wooden
inspire daily calendar Wed 28 Nov 2012



A great artist can paint a great picture on a small canvas.
- Charles Dudley Warner
Teachers daily calendar Thu 24 Dec 2009

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Daily Inspiration

If you believe you can, you probably can. If you believe you won't, you most assuredly won't. Belief is the ignition switch that gets you off the launching pad.
- Denis Waitley
inspire daily calendar Tue 27 Nov 2012


Schools are like jigsaw puzzles. Each morning, staff members join together to form edge pieces that interlock to create a safe environment and give support to each other an the whole. Then they provide just the right place for each of the students to fit safely and securely.
- Karen Hegeman, www.thecanadianteacher.com
Teachers daily calendar Wed 23 Dec 2009

Monday, November 26, 2012

Daily Inspiration

If it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something.
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
inspire daily calendar Mon 26 Nov 2012


The best kind of learning curve is an educated smile.
- Douglas Pagels
Teachers daily calendar Tue 22 Dec 2009

Sunday, November 25, 2012

Daily Inspiration

Granddad was superstitious about books. He thought that if you had enough of them around, education leaked out like radioactivity.
- Terry Pratchett, Johnny and the Dead
Teachers daily calendar Sat/Sun 19/20 Dec 2009 



School Satire
The Occupational Safety And Health Administration released figures today indicating that record numbers of elementary-school art teachers are falling victim to pneumosparklyosis, commonly known as glitter lung.
Characterized by a lack of creative energy and shortness of breath, and accompanied by sneezing or coughing up flakes of twinkly, reflective matter, glitter lung typically strikes teachers who spend at least twenty hours per week in an art class setting during the school year.
Until heavier, less toxic forms of slitter are developed, physicians recommend using alternative media to enhance children's artwork. Cheerios, cotton balls, and popsicle sticks are considered very safe. Avoid colored string, however, because some studies show that it could be high in yarncinogens.
- www.theonion.com
Teachers daily calendar Mon 21 Dec 2009

Saturday, November 24, 2012

Daily Inspiration

Nothing can resist the human will that will stake even its existence on its stated purpose. 
- Benjamin Disraeli
inspire daily calendar Sat/Sun 24/25 Nov 2012



I like a teacher who gives you something to take home to think about besides homework.
- Edith Ann, a.k.a. Lily Tomlin
Teachers daily calendar Fri 18 Dec 2009

Friday, November 23, 2012

Daily Inspiration

Though no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending. 
- Anonymous
inspire daily calendar Fri 23 Nov 2012



If you need a reason for having sweet dreams, think of your best student. If you need a reason to get out of bed in the morning, think of your worst student.
- Robert D. Ramsey, Inspirational Quotes, Notes, & Anecdotes That Honor Teachers and Teaching
Teachers daily calendar Thu 17 Dec 2009

Thursday, November 22, 2012

Daily Inspiration

The real secret of success is enthusiasm.
- Walter Chrysler
inspire daily calendar Thu 22 Nov 2012



Silly School Staff Directory
Al Jebrah, Math Teacher
  • Favorite teaching topic: Long division
  • Extracurricular interests: Seeing if he can add his grocery bill faster than the cashier can
  • How to become this teacher's pet: Bring your calculator to class every day.

Rita Mapp, Geography Teacher
  • Favorite teaching topic: Why Greenland is covered with ice and Iceland is covered with grass
  • Extracurricular interests: Going to the shopping mall and getting lost on purpose
  • How to become this teacher's pet: Collect potato chips that happen to look like European countries. 
- www.timeforkids.com
Teachers daily calendar Wed 16 Dec 2009

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Daily Inspiration

You can't make decisions based on fear and the possibility of what might happen. We just weren't raised that way.
- Michelle Obama
inspire daily calendar Wed 21 Nov 2012



The good school is that one in which in studying I also get the pleasure of playing.
- Paulo Freire
Teachers daily calendar Tue 15 Dec 2009

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Daily Inspiration

Great souls have wills; feeble ones have only wishes.
- Chinese Proverb
inspire daily calendar Tue 20 Nov 2012



When you begin to touch your heart or to let your heart be touched, you begin to discover that it's bottomless, that it doesn't have any resolution, that this heart is huge, vast, and limitless. You begin to discover how much warmth and gentleness is there as well as how much space.
- Pema Chodron
Teachers daily calendar Mon 14 Dec 2009

Monday, November 19, 2012

Daily Inspiration

Most people have no idea of the giant capacity we can immediately command when we focus all of our resources on mastering a single area of our lives.
- Anthony Robbins
inspire daily calendar Mon 19 Nov 2012



Pretty Clever Palindrome Collection
Was it Elliot's toilet I saw?
A min , a plan, a canal -- Panama!
Anita got a toga, Tina.
Cigar? Toss it in a can. It is so tragic.
Did I draw Della too tall, Edward? I did?
Do not start at rats to nod.
Todd erases a red dot.
Teachers daily calendar Sat/Sun 12/13 Dec 2009

Sunday, November 18, 2012

Daily Inspiration

Q: Why was the math book so sad?
A: It had too many problems.
Teachers daily calendar Thur 10 Dec 2009


After interviewing 1998 National Teacher of the Year Philip Bigler, David Letterman turned to band director Paul Shaffer and said, "Wouldn't it be nice to know that when you went to work every day, you were making a tangible difference in the future of the world?"
Teachers daily calendar Fri 11 Dec 2009

Saturday, November 17, 2012

Daily Inspiration

Always look at what you have left. Never look at what you have lost.
- Robert H. Schuller
inspire daily calendar Sat/Sun 17/18 Nov 2012 


There is no point at which you can say, "Well, I'm successful now. I might as well take a nap."
- Carrie Fisher
Teachers daily calendar Wed 9 Dec 2009

Friday, November 16, 2012

Daily Inspiration

Where there is an open mind, there will always be a frontier. 
- Charles F. Kettering
 inspire daily calendar Fri 16 Nov 2012



How Teachers Grade Exams
  • Statistics teachers: All grades are plotted along the normal bell curve.
  • Psychology teachers: Students are asked to blot in in their exam books, close them and turn them in. The professor opens the books and assigns the first grade that comes to mind.
  • Religion teachers: Grade is determined by God.
- www.aaaugh.com
Teachers daily calendar Tue 8 Dec 2009

Thursday, November 15, 2012

Daily Inspiration

Our greatest battles are that with our own minds.
- Jameson Frank
inspire daily calendar Thu 15 Nov 2012



Fun Facts: Weather
On July 10, 2007, Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina, witnessed its first snowfall in eighty-nine years. Citizens, many of whom were celebrating the country's Independence Day, streamed into the stree to experience snowflakes for the first time.
Nearly 1,800 thunderstorms are happening at any moment around the world. That's sixteen million storms per year.
The windiest place on Earth is considered to be Commonwealth Bay on the coast of Antarctica. Wind speeds here reach hurricane force (74 miles per hour) on average every three days and often exceed 200 miles per hour.
- www.factmonster.com
Teachers daily calendar Mon 7 Dec 2009

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Daily Inspiration

We can do anything we want to do if we stick to it long enough.
- Helen Keller
inspire daily calendar Wed 14 Nov 2012 


Playground Poetry
Great green globs of greasy grimey gopher guts,
Mutilated monkey meat,
Itty bitty birdy feet!
Hot school lunches aren't fit for kids to eat
So pass the ketchup please!
Teachers daily calendar Sat/Sun 5/6 Dec 2009

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Daily Inspiration

Everyone has his burden. What counts is how you carry it.
- Merle Miller
inspire daily calendar Tue 13 Nov 2012 



To the excitement of many youngsters, computer and video games have entered the educational playing field. Research increasingly supports the cognitive benefits of such games - not to mention the fact that most kids today are already playing  them and loving them - and now educators and game designers are finding new and exciting ways to embed curricular content into complex yet fascinating play environments. In an Edutopia online poll,cent of voters agreed that computer and video games engage, motivate, and inspire students.

On the other hand, critic charge that the games' educational benefits have not been clearly established. Furthermore, competitiveness and the use of hierarchical scoring systems can compromise engagement for some students, and video gaming at school reinforces the digitized and sedentary lifestyle many young people already experience at home. Twenty-two percent of voters agreed, and believe using electronic games in the classroom is not the best thing for students simple because games are part of the world they grow up in. The say educational video games should be judged, critiqued, and proven before they're used in class.
- www.edutopia.org
Teachers daily calendar Fri 4 Dec 2009

Monday, November 12, 2012

Daily Inspiration

Our greatest glory is not in never falling but in rising every time we fall.
- Confuscious
inspire daily calendar Mon 12 Nov 2012 


Teacher Tip
As a way of keeping track of all the great teaching ideas I see and read about, I have a recipe box labeled with the different aspects of teaching. The labels include bulletin boards, management, organization, educational websites, etc. Whenever I notice a good idea, I write it on an index card and file it in the appropriate place. The possibilities are endless and I am accumulating quite a few great ideas.
- Tara Bigner, Beavis Elementary, Cincinnati, Ohio; Works4Me on www.nea.org
Teachers daily calendar Thu 3 Dec 2009

Sunday, November 11, 2012

Daily Inspiration

There the teacher was teaching about punctuation, and I have my period. Do you have any idea how embarrassing that is?
- Rudy (Keish Knight Pulliam) in The Cosby Show
Teachers daily calendar Tue Dec 1 2009


Most Memorable Teachers
Ms. Fiero emphasized learning about other countries. I remember one assignment, which I especially enjoyed, required us to conduct research into other countries from around the world. I was fascinated by what I learned and this really sparked my interest in world affairs. I now serve on the House International Relations Committee, and I root my interest in world affairs in Ms. Fiero's lessons.
- Ohio Rep. Steve Chabot regarding Parma (Fiero) Samad, St. Catherine of Siena School, Cincinnati, Ohio on www.nea.org
Teachers daily calendar Wed 2 Dec 2009

Saturday, November 10, 2012

Daily Inspiration

Do your duty in all things. 
You cannot do more. 
You should never wish to do less.
- Robert E. Lee
inspire daily calendar Sat/Sun 10/11 Nov 2012


You can never go home without a smile on your face when you teach kids. I was always beaming at the end of the day. And it was so inspirational each morning to see that the kids were excited to be back at school. I would meet their buses and they would be making happy faces to me against the bus windows. Their love is unconditional.
- Christopher D. Markofski as quoted in What to Expect Your First Year of Teaching
Teachers daily calendar Mon 30 Nov 2009

Friday, November 9, 2012

Daily Inspiration

The older I get, the greater power I seem to have to help the world; I am like a snowball - the further I am rooled the more I gain.
- Susan B. Anthony
inspire daily calendar Fri 9 Nov 2012


Teaching is an art in itself. Too many think that only those people who can't do a thing will bother to become teachers. Not true. Actually, effective teachers are those who are fluent at two crafts -- the subject itself and the craft of instructing others in its practice.
- Joy Jones
Teachers daily calendar Sat/Sun 28/29 Nov 2009

Thursday, November 8, 2012

Mathmatical Fun?

My paid job is teaching Mathematics.
As I am drafting a quiz, to test factoring, exponents and radicals, I saw a question that I started to expand and play with and came up with what I think is a cool (in a nerdy sense) question. I am not using it on the quiz because I know the students already think my quizzes are too hard....

I will still give them the question to solve. And here it is:
Some rules to know to solve the equation:
1)  Negative Exponents:    


2) Adding Fractions:    


3) Perfect Square Binomials:     

4) Exponent and Root Relationship:    


5) Fractional Radicals:    

6) Rationalizing the Denominator:    


Applying all these to the original equation we get:



Cool? or what?! 

Daily Inspiration

I believe that every person is born with talent.
- Maya Angelou
inspire daily calendar Thu 8 Nov 2012


The beautiful thing about learning is nobody can take it away from you.
- B.B. King
Teachers daily calendar Fri 27 Nov 2009

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Daily Inspiration

Nothing focuses the mind better than the constant sight of a competitor who wants to wipe you off the map.
- Wayne Calloway
inspire daily calendar Wed 7 Nov 2012


The most precious gift we can offer others is our presence. When mindfulness embraces those we love, they will bloom like flowers.
- Thich Nhat Hanh
Teachers daily calendar Thu 26 Nov 2009

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

NaNoWriMo....


NaNoWriMo is National Novel Writing Month.
It is a month during which participants attempt to write a 50,000 novel in 30 days.

There is no official entry nor prize, just the glory of having a novel written.

The only real official aspect is timing and length: Can not start before 0:00:00 November 1, and must finish by 23:59:59 November 30. With a word count no less than 50,000. Oh, and also that the novel has to be novel, as in new :) It can't be something being re-written. The only prep before November 1 is planning.

I had thought about this challenge for a few years, and started a little planning for this year, but as I am now almost a week behind, I doubt I'll make the quota, but still thinking of trying.

I will be posting more through my writing blog: http://hughkemeny.blogspot.ca/

So if you're interested in the progress, check out that blog. Though I will have updates here (which is what this post is).

Daily Inspiration

You never lose by loving. You always lose by holding back.
- Barbara De Angelis
inspire daily calendar Tue 6 Nov 2012


My teacher can make Hawaii into Bell Atlantic and the U.S. into AT&T and explain Hawaii's annex in two seconds flat. She snatches history from the past ant puts it in my backyard.
- Latia, a student quoted by Kathleen Cushman in Fires in the Bathroom
Teachers daily calendar Wed 25 Nov 2009

Monday, November 5, 2012

Daily Inspiration

A lot of people are afraid to say what they want. That's why they don't get what they want. 
- Madonna
inspire daily calendar Mon 5 Nov 2012


A miracle worker is not geared toward fighting the world that is, but toward creating the world that could be.
- Marianne Williamson
Teachers daily calendar Tue 24 Nov 2009

Sunday, November 4, 2012

Daily Inspiration

At the beginning of nearly every episode of The Simpsons, Bart is punished by being made to write a sentence over and over on the school chalkboard. A few classics:
  • Class clown is not a paid position.
  • I have neither been there nor done that.
  • I will not trade pants with others.
Teachers daily calendar Sat/Sun 21/22 Nov 2009



That is what learning is. You suddenly understand something you've understood all your life, but in a new way.
- Doris Lessing
Teachers daily calendar Mon 23 Nov 2009

Saturday, November 3, 2012

Daily Inspiration

Courage is resistance to fear; mastery of fear - not oabsence of fear.
- Mark Twain
inspire daily calendar Sat/Sun 3/4 Nov 2012


The quality of a university is measured more by the kind of student it turns out than the kind it takes in.
- Robert J. Kibbee
Teachers daily calendar Fri 20 Nov 2009

Friday, November 2, 2012

Daily Inspiration

I discovered I always have choices and sometimes it's only a choice of attitude.
- Judith M. Knowlton
inspire daily calendar Fri 2 Nov 2012


Education is the drawing out of the Soul.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
Teachers daily calendar Thu 19 Nov 2009

Thursday, November 1, 2012

Daily Inspiration

I find that when you have a real interest in life and a curious life, that sleep is not the most important thing.
- Martha Stewart
inspire daily calendar Thu 1 Nov 2012


Take the first step in faith. You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.
- Martin Luther King Jr.
Teachers daily calendar Wed 18 Nov 2009