OLQAF FUB SEZ: According to Dutch Renaissance thinker Desiderius Erasmus, born on or about this date in 1466 or 1469, “Give light, and the darkness will disappear of itself.”

BEING THERE—Before best-selling author Dan Brown wrote “The Da Vinci Code,” he was known for his 2000 novel “Angels and Demons.” Lecturer Bonnie Flickinger will offer a pictorial tour of the locales in that book—Switzerland, Rome and the Vatican—at a reception and slide presentation during the meeting of the English Speaking Union at 7:30 p. m. Tuesday in the Saturn Club, 977 Delaware Ave. Tickets are $10 for nonmembers. For reservations, call 592-3907.

CAT HOLIDAY—There are only five days left in the first Spook-CAT-ular program at the SPCA Serving Erie County, 205 Ensminger Road, Town of Tonawanda, and its adoption center in Walden Galleria, Cheektowaga.

Bring a cat food donation for Buffalo’s Pet Food Pantry and get a certificate that will save you $54 off the usual cost to adopt a cat or kitten. Certificates are valid only until Halloween. Children in costume are invited to trick-or-treat for themselves and their pets at the Town of Tonawanda shelter from 9 a. m. to 3 p. m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

Technically Challenged

In 1996, I wrote a lamenting verse to Olaf Fub: “This computer age has gotten to me—

I must learn some new terminology!”

Alas, I have never succumbed—

And now my life is in torment—

I do not own an Internet!

My grandkids keep me somewhat abreast

But I’m a loss for all the rest

When I’m told to go to

Web sites I do not have.

Please send help to those of us who lack

The courage to become technically on track!

—Berta S. Cole

WORK BREAK—Guest speaker for the October meeting of the Niagara Frontier Chapter of NY State Women Inc., formerly Tonawandas Business&Professional Women, is Jill Townson, executive director of the YWCA of the Tonawandas for the past nine years. She will talk about her work with at-risk girls in Arkansas and the Buffalo area.

The meeting, open to working women on the Niagara Frontier, will be at 6 p. m. Tuesday in Pane’s Restaurant, 984 Payne Ave., North Tonawanda. Nonmembers are welcome, but reservations are required. Call Susan Leaderstorf at 694-3307 or 289-8898.

THE WAY WE WERE— The wild early days of Buffalo and Niagara Falls come to life again as retired newsman Bob Kostoff, formerly a reporter for the Lockport Union-Sun& Journal and Buffalo Courier-Express, talks about his latest book, “Hidden History of Greater Niagara,” at 7 p. m. today in the North Tonawanda History Museum, 54 Webster St., as part of the museum’s fall lecture series. Admission is free.

MILITARY NOTES— Five Western New York cadets recently completed the Army Reserve Officer Training Corps Leader Development and Assessment Course at Fort Lewis, Tacoma, Wash. They are:

ThomasB. BeachJr., son of Judy Beach of Buffalo. A 2002 graduate of Seneca Vocational High School, he is a student at Canisius College.

AndrewG. Coulter, son of David H. and Susan Coulter of East Aurora. A 2005 graduate of East Aurora High School, he is a student at Rochester Institute of Technology.

StephenJ. Fitzpatrick, son of Daniel J. and Nancy F. Fitzpatrick of Ellicottville. A 2006 graduate of Ellicottville Central High School, he is a student at St. Bonaventure University.

MatthewJ. Ingram, son of Raymond J. and Laurie J. Ingram of Olean. A 2006 graduate of Olean High School, he is a student at St. Bonaventure University.

DavidD. Karwick, son of David Karwick of Ransomville and Joanna Bonazoli of Buffalo. He is a 2006 graduate of Canisius High School.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY— Jim Kelley, Cheryl Rae, Gil Chorbajian, Jesse J. Lark, Bob Kersten, Donna Lewis, Gia Fiori, Jennifer Carducci, Sister Mary Lucette Kinecki, Kevin Panek, Mark Kautz, Anna Klapakis, Judith Bondanza, Patricia Merrell, Anne Emblidge, Paul Tokasz, Mary Anne Deichman, Tim Creighton and Ava Simoncelli.