15 Tips from well-traveled New York Times columnist, Nicholas Kristof, for students abroad pursuing a degree but also for the novice and experienced traveler: Buy a secondhand local cell phone for $20, outfit it with a local SIM card and keep it in your pocket.

Ferida Wolff writes: They have always been seen as mystical creatures, a symbol of longevity and bring good luck into a house. Some say that if you dream of a turtle, it foretells of an incident that will bring amusement or an improvement in business.

Changing Lives Through Literature, an alternative sentencing program: "One study indicated that only 19 percent of CLTL 'graduates' re-offended while a comparison group of offenders had a 45 percent recidivism rate"

Mother Warriors by Jenny McCarthy, © 2008 Plume Books/Penguin Group Paperback: 217 pp plus 27 pp of resources If you know anyone with a child who has received a diagnosis of autism, information about this little book, along with the author’s earli…

“In music one must think with the heart and feel with the brain.” George Szell The Library of Congress presents a series and section labeled as Music and the Brain. Lectures, conversations and symposia focus on the recognition of research combin…

Pew Research has published a new brief concerning a Social & Demographic Trend entitled The Threshold Generation. What follows are some segments from that release: "Overall, 37% of full-time employed adults of all ages say they have thought in t…

The combination of floral enameled products with newly-popular-again Indigo and Batik items as well as kurtas for mothers and children make this an appealing site.

Results from a National Bureau of Economic Research working paper shows shows that good or bad investing experiences early in life leave a lasting impression that "fades away only very slowly."

The Gift of a Bride and The Indian Bride are murder mysteries, while Lahiri’s Unaccustomed Earth is a set of short stories. The books are united by a shared concern for the demands, rewards, and complications of marriage and immigration, particularly on the part of individuals who once called India “home.”

The Europeana website was so overwhelmed by viewers wanting to connect with this site, that it crashed last November. Finally, it is (almost) ready for prime time. Actually, it won't be until 2010 that it will be officially a complete site. Here's what…

Veterans in-depth interviews examining the narrators' early years as well as thoroughly address their military experiences in World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Gulf War and War on Terrorism from the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library's Oral History program

John Malone writes: While we were out in the back yard cleaning up the debris from the tornado, I discovered our old Thistle resting against the back wall of the house. Papa and Mama had given up sailing, and nobody else wanted the boat, which had deteri…

PBGC Testimony: "At the end of FY 2008, there was substantial reasonably possible exposure in plans of companies in airlines, autos, and steel, among other sectors. Subsequently, declines in the stock market have reduced the value of assets held by DB plans and have caused the unfunded liabilities of most DB pension plans to increase substantially"

Exhibits at the SFCB — Once Upon A Book: Author/illustrators reveal their creative processes; Show Me a Story includes an essay excerpt from Maribeth Back's essay, Encoding Enchantment: Engineering the Materials of Story

Sharon Kapnick writes: Other than family management, ingredients that go into these wines are passion, dedication, creativity, research, innovation, state-of-the-art technology, tradition and decades — even centuries! — of experience

Joan L. Cannon writes: I thought a book club would bear some resemblance to an English class, presumably without grades or written reports. Everyone would read the same book, and then the meeting would take place with everyone discussing the chosen volum…

Roberta McReynolds writes: I was hoping for something more exotic sounding than Clairol #18 — Pecan. I never came up with anything called #1 — Foxy Brunet, #10 — Helen of Troy Umber, or even Frosted Chocolate Malt Fantasy. Oh, wait a minute … that last…

PBS'FRONTLINE correspondent Martin Smith unearths the details of the world’s first global Ponzi scheme — a deception that lasted longer, reached wider and cut deeper than any other business scandal in history — in The Madoff Affair, airing on PBS.

We've encountered an era demanding our talents as grandparents-who-entertain. A grandson is spending his after-kindergarten hours with us on a daily basis, at least for a while. Two granddaughters have been with us on a twice-week basis for eight years.…

Philadelphia's Franklin Institute is displaying in an exhibition titled Galileo, the Medici and the Age of Astronomy, one of those gorgeous brass instruments that resemble jewelry: an armillary sphere. All ages can participate in Science in Play, a…

Rose Mula writes: iPod — Do You? My tiny pink marvel can hold hundreds of songs, so I’ll be able to add many more oldies but goodies. If it’s true that exercising your brain cells can stave off Alzheimer’s, my grandniece’s gift has made me immune. So tha…

The week ahead Holds lots of dread: I have to buy a bathing suit. I’d be a dope To have much hope Of finding fit (don’t mention cute). In fact if my long search is fruitless I may well have to dive in suitless. Julia Sneden writes and rhymes about…

Ferida Wolff writes: My husband and I went on vacation to a place both foreign and familiar to me — the Middle East. The foreign aspect was that I had not been in that part of the world before. The familiar part had to do with my paternal family. My…