Lincoln Park Zoo’s 150 years: Thrilling escapes, humbling births and furthering the public’s knowledge of animals | Roof Sheet Curving Machine

Commenter: Where did I go wrong?I currently have over $180,000 of debt due to college… and climbing because I can only make the minimum loan payment which, as we all know, only pays the interest on the loan and not any of the principle balance. So the $180,00 is rapidly rising as I type this. How did it get this bad? I was debt free when I started college. I received the GI Bill for being in the army which paid me a monthly amount while attending college. Not to mention I attended public colleges in MA which were tuition FREE for US Veterans. How did it get this bad? I went to a local community college and then to UMass Boston as I worked full-time until I had all of my elective classes complete. Both schools are considered public colleges and my tuition was FREE. I had minimal debt at that time mostly due to college fees, books, and other school and living expenses. How did it get this bad? My goal was to be an architect. I looked at architecture schools in the Boston area and found exactly zero programs offered at public colleges. I decided to go to a private college. Northeastern University in Boston. Tuition was NOT FREE here for US Veterans. Here’s how it got so bad! Tuition was over $30,000 a year. Not to mention an exorbitant amount of money paid in architecture supplies that were "necessary". I worked odd jobs as much as I could which was very difficult with the time demands in architecture school. My GI Bill expired because it was beyond the allotted time. Which meant there were times I was paying rent and living expenses with my student loans and credit card(s). At this point I was in survival mode. Five years later I received my masters degree. I’m currently one of the few architects to have a job in the city of Boston. I’m entry level, in my 30′s and live with 2 other people in a cramped apartment outside the city with no TV and very few amenities. I don’t own a car and really don’t have any unusual expenses except for my loans. I’m desperate for relief. I honestly don’t know how I’m getting by each day. I’m working ridiculous hours and still not able to pay all my bills. The potential for architects to make a decent living is there after 10 years or so in the business. But due to the recession, the building industry is dormant and I’m working like a fiend just to keep my job with literally thousands of people waiting in the wings to take my place if I miss a single deadline. How did it get this bad? Where did I go wrong???

Commenter: LisaI see many stories here describing how the loans cannot be paid because of too low income. That tells me the education was not worth that investement. We have to change our money culture. We are a debt society, we take on huge loans for school because we’re told we should. We have insanely large mortgages because we’re told we deserve that house we can’t afford. The housing bubble burst, good, we’ll reset to reasonable prices and responsible loan requirements. The student loan bubble should burst, too. We can adjust our mind-sets and look to our fine local state and community colleges.

In spite of the slick sledding Myron was no longer aerodynamic. His drag coefficient was approaching that of a trawler with a net full of moldy hay. The cow idled momentarily and Myron slipped the chain off his wrist. He plopped in the flop and lay like a plow left in the furrow.

Another Newcastle-born artist, John Olson, brought fame to the city by winning the Archibald Prize in 2005, the Wynne Prize in 1969 and 1985, and the Sulman Prize in 1989. 

What better way to impress his new lady friend, thought Rob, than to take her to his friend’s rancho for an afternoon branding and BBQ? His ’84 model two horse trailer had been repaired so many times that it looked like a well drillin’ rig! The ‘98 pickup was using 2 quarts of oil to a tank of gas and his horse was … well, ol’ Yella looked right at home.

Human beings are pretty small potatoes when Mother Nature decides to put us in our place. And those of us who live on the land seldom need reminding of our status in the pecking order.

Border collies. Are they truly smarter than chimpanzees? Cuddlier than koala? More dedicated than Batman’s valet?

Betty said her dad had a bull that kept jumpin’ the fence. She wondered if I knew any surefire cures for fence jumpin’ bulls. I asked her what they’d tried already.

A 118th-minute penalty by Reinaldo wasn’t enough for the Roar, and the Jets booked their spot in the grand final with a 3-2 win.

 He turned to professional snooker in 1963, becoming Australia’s “Mr Snooker” from his high profile derived through the BBC’s Pot Black TV series. He formed the Australian Professional Players Association and was made a Member of the Order of Australia in 1980. Charlton died in November, 2004.  

Tony-winner and Oscar-nominee Julie Taymor brings this innovative and magical recreation of Mozart’s The Magic Flute to life – complete with dancing bears and giant flamingos! The production is sung in English and shortened to just 100 minutes to form an abridged holiday version perfect for families. Pursued by a serpent in a strange land between the sun and the moon, Prince Tamino soon finds himself at the centre of a wild adventure when he is saved by the mysterious handmaidens of the commanding Queen of the Night. Sent on a mission to save the Queen’s captured daughter Pamina with a magic flute and bumbling servant Papageno, Prince Tamino’s trials have just begun as he loses his heart to the Princess and comes to realise that the nature of good and evil in this odd place may not be as clear as they first appear.

Jazz drummer Ai Murakami was born in Japan, and has been fascinated by rhythm ever since she played taiko (Japanese drums) at the age of four. When she heard Thelonious Monk’s "Monk’s Dream" for the first time, she fell in love with his music immediately and immersed herself in jazz. She started her professional career while at Waseda University, and moved to New York city in 1998. Soon after her arriving, she found her musical home, Smalls Jazz Club, located in Greenwich Village, and quickly met like-minded musicians. Since then, she has dedicated herself to pursuing her musical passion. Her debut album Conception, released from Gut String Records in November 2014, features Zaid Nasser, Tardo Hammer and Hassan Shakur and has received outstanding reviews from the jazz critics. "Murakami is crisp and selective, but her breaks insert force into all the right places. She is the first reason Conception swings like crazy." "Her interpretations prove once again two things about bebop: Its complex energy is unique in its capacity to communicate joy, and its forms are inexhaustible in their openness to individual expression." Tom Conrad, Stereophile Magazine "The tw… (read more)