INPUT ARTICLE: Article: Have some notes handy to initiate small talk at the beginning of the call. Introduce all attendees by their names, titles, and roles they play. If anyone arrives or joins the call after the five-minute delay, don't interrupt a discussion in progress. Wait until after a speaker has finished or a topic has ended to allow latecomers to introduce themselves. Ask attendees dialing in to mute their phones to avoid background noise. Request that they avoid using the hold button to prevent broadcasting their company's hold music. Tell everyone physically present to silence their cell phones and keep them away from the meeting phone to prevent interference. Make sure all attendees speak audibly and clearly so that everyone can hear them. Keep an eye on the clock to accommodate the needs of attendees and presenters. Cover the most important issues first in case you run out of time. If anyone asks a question you can't answer or weren't expecting, tell them you'll get back to them as soon as possible. Don't wait until the end of the call to do this. Do it right before you get to questions and answers (Q&A) on the agenda. Ask everyone the most convenient date and time for the next call. If most attendees are undecided, send out a scheduling survey after the call. In a conference call, you might have trouble getting everyone to participate. To prevent this from happening, don't ask if anyone has any questions. Rather, ask specific people relevant to the topic of discussion a question. For example, you could ask, "Bob, have you gotten all of the information you need to create the topic text?" Start to wrap up about five minutes before the scheduled ending time. If Q&A is still in progress, tell everyone you have time for one more question. Thank everyone for their time and wish them a good day or week(end).

SUMMARY: Allow five extra minutes for latecomers. Review meeting etiquette. Stick to the agenda. Schedule a follow-up call, if necessary. Allow at least 15 minutes for Q&A. Close the call.

INPUT ARTICLE: Article: Remove any spiders that you see while cleaning to prevent them from laying eggs in your car. Trap the spider with a cup or with your hands and exterminate it or release it far away from your car. If you can't or would prefer not to touch the spiders, set up spider sticky traps around the car where you've seen spiders before. Using a vacuum with a tube attachment, look for and suck away any spider egg sacks, webs, or additional spiders that you see. Pay special attention to the corners or areas under mats and chairs. Suck up any dirt, crumbs, or other debris you see as wellit could be attracting the spiders. After vacuuming the car, remove the vacuum bag and discard it far away from your car to prevent any spiders from escaping. Spider egg sacks are usually small, oval-shaped grey bundles with a silky consistency. Spiders are attracted to bright lights, so keep your inside car lights turned off at all times if you've noticed an infestation. At night when you need your exterior lights on, turn them off immediately after parking. If someone uses electronics in your car, ask them to turn the screen to a low brightness setting. Spiders are most likely to slip through any cracks, gaps, or holes in your car's exterior. Inspect your car for damage, particularly any holes leading to your car interior, and fix them yourself or take your car to a certified mechanic for repairs. Eliminating open spaces will make it more difficult for spiders to enter your car. This only applies to cracks, gaps, or holes made by damage. Never try to seal your car's doors, vents, windows, or pipes. If you have a broken or cracked windshield, for example, repair it yourself or hire a mechanic to fix it as soon as possible.

SUMMARY: Catch and get rid of any existing spiders in your car. Vacuum your entire car. Turn off your interior car lights while using your car. Fix any cracks or holes in your car so spiders can't get in it.

INPUT ARTICLE: Article: The Pythagorean Theorem can easily be used to calculate the straight-line distance between two points in the X-Y plane. All you need to know are the x and y coordinates of any two points. Usually, these coordinates are written as ordered pairs in the form (x, y). To find the distance between these two points, we will treat each point as one of the non-right angle corners of a right triangle. By doing this, it's easy to find the length of the a and b sides, then calculate c, the hypotenuse, which is the distance between the two points. In a typical X-Y plane, for each point (x,y), x gives a coordinate on the horizontal axis and y gives a coordinate on the vertical axis. You can find the distance between the two points without plotting them on a graph, but doing so gives you a visual reference that you can use to ensure your answer makes sense. Using your two points as the corners of the triangle adjacent to the hypotenuse, find the lengths of the a and b sides of the triangle. You can do this visually on the graph, or by using the formulas |x1 - x2| for the horizontal side and |y1 - y2| for the vertical side, where (x1,y1) is your first point and (x2,y2) is your second. Let's say our two points are (6,1) and (3,5). The side length of the horizontal side of our triangle is: |x1 - x2| |3 - 6| | -3 | = 3 The length of the vertical side is: |y1 - y2| |1 - 5| | -4 | = 4 So, we can say that in our right triangle, side a = 3 and side b = 4. The distance between your two points is the hypotenuse of the triangle whose two sides you've just defined. Use the Pythagorean Theorem as you normally would to find the hypotenuse, setting a as the length of your first side and b as the length of the second. In our example using points (3,5) and (6,1), our side lengths are 3 and 4, so we would find the hypotenuse as follows: (3)+(4)= c c= sqrt(9+16) c= sqrt(25) c= 5. The distance between (3,5) and (6,1) is 5.

SUMMARY: Define two points in the X-Y plane. Plot your two points on a graph. Find the lengths of the non-hypotenuse sides of your triangle. Use the Pythagorean Theorem to solve for the hypotenuse.

INPUT ARTICLE: Article: You'll be working with modeling clay and plaster, so, needless to say, this isn't the cleanest of projects. Lay some newspapers down and let's get started. You'll need: Plaster of Paris Water Modeling clay Petroleum jelly Small natural objects such as sea shells Paper cups Plastic spoons Newspaper or paper towels Generally, leaves, shells, branches, or bones work best. Just make sure you have enough clay and plaster to cover it.

SUMMARY:
Clean the area. Choose an object for the template of your fossil.