text:
Finding aid to the S. L. Washburn papers, 1932-1996
Finding aid to the S. L. Washburn Papers, 1932-1996
Collection number: BANC MSS 98/132 c
The Bancroft Library
Phonotape 2950
Motion Picture 842
Phonodisc 738
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, California
- The Bancroft Library.
- University of California, Berkeley
- Berkeley, California, 94720-6000
- Phone: (510) 642-6481
- Fax: (510) 642-7589
- Email: firstname.lastname@example.com
- URL: http://bancroft.berkeley.edu
- Processed by:
- Leticia M. Johnson
- Date Completed:
- October, 1998
- Encoded by:
- Xiuzhi Zhou
Phonotape 2950
Motion Picture 842
Phonodisc 738
- Videotapes/sound recordings and motion pictures have been transferred to the Microforms Collection of The Bancroft Library.
|Born on November 26, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, second son of Henry Bradford Washburn and Edith Hall Washburn
|B.A. in anthropology from Harvard College, summa cum laude
|Field work in Ceylon, Siam, Borneo (Asiatic primate expedition organized by Harold Coolidge)
|Teaching Assistant for Professors Earnest A. Hooton and Alfred M. Tozzer, Anthropology Department, Harvard University
|Married Henrietta Faxon Pease on September 10
|Instructor and Assistant Professor, Anatomy, Columbia University Medical School
|Ph.D. from Harvard University
|Associate Professor and Professor (Chairman 1953-1955), Anthropology Department, University of Chicago
|Field work in East and South Africa
|President, American Association of Physical Anthropologists
|Field work in Southern Rhodesia and South Africa
|Professor (Chairman 1967-1968), Anthropology Department, University of California at Berkeley
|Field work in East Africa
|Awarded the Viking Fund Medal
|Membership in the National Academy of Sciences
|Awarded Ciba Foundation Medal
|Awarded Huxley Medal, Royal Anthropological Society, Great Britain
|Appointed to Stanford University Board of Trustees
|Awarded title of University Professor
|University Professor Emeritus, University of California at Berkeley
|Awarded Berkeley Citation, University of California, Berkeley
|Laboratories for undergraduate Physical Anthropology at University of California, Berkeley named the Sherwood L. Washburn Laboratories
|Henrietta Washburn died March 5
|Teaching Center in Valley Life Sciences Building, University of California, named the Sherwood Washburn Teaching Center
Container List
SERIES 1: GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE, 1947-1996, undated
Scope and Content Note
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation 1976-1980
American Journal of Primatology 1983
Appleton-Century-Crofts, Inc. 1968, undated
Beach, Frank 1959-1972, undated
Buettner-Janusch, John 1972-1987
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists 1982
Carnegie Corporation of New York 1983-1986
Cole, Glen 1959
CRM Books 1970
Devore, Irven 1958-1996
Enciclopedia Italiana 1996
Freeman, Derek 1966-1990
Fossey, Dian 1967-1978
Foster, George M. 1961-1990
Groves, Colin 1966-1969, undated
Hamburg, David A. 1966-1995
Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation 1989, undated
Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc. 1963-1971
Hooten, Earnest A. 1947-1953
Howell, Clark 1961-1987
Jay, Phyllis C. 1963-1975
Landau, Misia 1982-1987
Laporte, Léo 1984-1989
Laughlin, William 1963-1977
Leakey, Louis Seymour Bazett 1957-1979
Little, Brown and Company, Inc. 1969-1972
Lowenstein, Jerold 1977-1981
L. S. B. Leakey Foundation 1979-1982
The McCaleb-Seiler Publishing Company 1970
Marchant, Linda 1987-1992
Miller, Steven 1969-1970
Milton, Katherine 1978-1992
Montagna, William 1964-1983
Morin, Alexander 1963-1968
Napier, John 1960-1982, undated
Oakley, Kenneth 1950-1981
Osmundsen, Lita (see also 1: 62) 1955-1988
Pfeiffer, John 1962-1969
Pilbeam, David 1966-1975, undated
Pollitzer, William 1969-1979
Prost, Jack 1961-1965
Sawyer, Janet W. 1970-1972
Schmidt, Leon 1962-1968
Schultz, Adolph 1962-1976
Shockley, William 1965-1969
Smithsonian Institution 1968-1991
Stein, Peter 1965-1966
Tax, Sol 1961-1972
Tobias, Phillip 1966-1982
Toth, Nicholas 1988-1989
University of Utah 1967-1968
W. A. Benjamin, Inc. 1972-1977
Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research, Inc. (see also 1:44-46) 1965-1981
W. H. Freeman and Company Publishers 1967, 1976
Ab-Ap 1964-1988
Ar-Av 1959-1980
Ba-Be 1963-1984
Bi-Bo 1962-1992
Br-Bu 1960-1984
Ca-Ch 1962-1985
Ci-Co 1958-1985
Cr 1967-1974
Ma 1956-1984
Mc 1958-1982
Me-My 1961-1989
Ra-Ri 1963-1985
Ro-Ru 1959-1982
Sa 1966-1978
Sc-Sh 1959-1989
Si-So 1957-1985
Sp-Sw 1958-1994
Unidentified Correspondents 1970-1985
SERIES 2: WRITINGS, 1942-1995, undated
Scope and Content Note
Abstracts 1964-1981, undated
Aggressive Behavior in Old World Monkeys and Apes [1965-1966]
The Analysis of Primate Evolution with Particular Reference to the Origin of Man 1951
Animal Behavior and Social Anthropology 1978
Anthropology and the Dimensions of Life undated
The Antiquated Educational System undated
An Ape's Eye-View of Human Evolution undated
Baboon Ecology and Human Evolution 1963
Baboon Social Life (films) 1962
Behavior and the Origin of Man; Huxley Lecture 1967
Behavior as Adaptation: The Social Group and its Functions 1966
Beyond the Basics: Some Future Uses of the Past 1977
Bibliographies undated
Biochemical Insights into Our Ancestry 1991
Book reviews 1949-1991
Brain and Behavior undated
Brain, Behavior and Evolution 1968
Campus Chaos undated
Canine Teeth: Notes on Controversies in the Study of Human Evolution 1974
Casts: the Use of Casts in the Study of Human Evolution undated
Classification and Human Evolution 1963
Comment on: AAUP Statement on Studies of Intelligence and Race 1974
Comment on Brace's Review of Origins 1980
Comparison of Human Behaviors undated
Conflict in Primate Society 1965
Curriculum in Physical Anthropology undated
Double Projection 1966
Ecology and Australopithecine Taxonomy 1975
Evolution and Education 1974
Evolution and Learning: a Context for Evaluation undated
Evolution of a Teacher 1983
The Evolution of Human Behavior 1967-1968
The Evolution of Man 1978
Field Study of Primate Behavior 1977
Fossils undated
The Fun of Human Evolution! undated
Growth of Man undated
Human Behavior and the Behavior of Other Animals 1978
Human Biology and Social Science 1982, undated
Human Evolution 1965
Human Evolution 1967
Human Evolution 1982
Human Evolution lectures undated
Human Evolution: Science or Game? 1973
Human Evolution, Voice of America Broadcast 1971-1972
The Human Past- preface 1978
The Human Past- chapter I [circa 1978]
The Human Past- chapter II [circa 1978]
The Human Past- chapter III [circa 1978]
The Human Past- chapter IV [circa 1978]
The Human Past- chapter V [circa 1978]
The Human Past- chapter VI [circa 1978]
The Human Past- chapter VII [circa 1978]
Implications for Understanding Man 1970-1971
Language and the Fossil Record undated
Letters to editors 1960-1982, undated
Limericks 1984-1987
Man: a Product of Evolution undated
Man: on the Origin of the Species 1972
Milestones in Human Evolution undated
The New Physical Anthropology After 45 Years 1995
Notes on Primate Psychophysiology undated
Obituary of Weidenreich, Franz 1968
On the Importance of the Study of Primate Behavior. . . 1968
One Hundred Years of Biological Anthropology 1968
Piltdown Jaw and Canine Tooth Identified as Orangutan by Collagen Assay undated
Primate Studies and Human Evolution undated
Primates undated
Problems in Prehistory 1965
Progress in Molecular Anthropology undated
Race Environment and Human Achievements 1967
The Relation of the Temporal Muscle to the Form of the Skull 1947
Relationship of Australopithecus and Homo 1978
The Relationship of Form and Function of the Masticatory Apparatus 1956
The Single Species Hypothesis 1976
Social Adaptation in Nonhuman Primates undated
The Social Behavior of Baboons and Early Man 1971
The Social Life of Baboons 1961
Speculations on the Problem of Man's Coming to the Ground 1967
Still More on Primate Taxonomy 1978
The Study of Human Evolution 1968
The Study of Race/Estudio Sobre Raza 1963, 1964
Summary and Implications for the Study of Human Behavior 1963
Television lectures on Primates undated
Time undated
A View of the Primates undated
Viking Fund Publications in Anthropology 1942-1959
Washburn, S. L. papers for Anthropology 195 1970-1976
Why schools? undated
Unidentified writings undated
SERIES 3: FIELD NOTES, 1939-1940, undated
Scope and Content Note
Anatomy notes undated
Canine teeth, notes and measurements undated
Skeleton measurements, M[acaca] irus [macaca fascicularis/cynomolgus macaque], April-December 1939
Skeleton measurements, M[acaca] irus [macaca fascicularis/cynomolgus macaque], February-June 1940
Skeleton measurements, M[acaca] irus [macaca fascicularis/cynomolgus macaque] undated
Skeleton measurements, P[resbytis] cristatus, [silvered langur], September- November 1939
Skeleton measurements, P[resbytis] cristatus, [silvered langur], December 1939
Skeleton measurements, P[resbytis] cristatus, [silvered langur], May 1940
Skeleton measurements, P[resbytis] cristatus, [silvered langur] undated
Skeleton measurements, P[resbytis] rubicundus [maroon langur], April- June 1939
Vertebrae, notes on measurements undated
Scope and Content Note
Anthropology 1, lectures 1-8, Fall 1964
Anthropology 1, lectures 9-17, Fall 1964
Anthropology 1, lectures 18-25, Fall 1964
Anthropology 1, Fall 1966
Anthropology 1, Fall 1967
Anthropology 1, Winter 1970
Anthropology 1, Fall 1971
Anthropology 1, Spring 1974
Anthropology 1, Fall 1975
Anthropology 1, Fall 1977
Anthropology 1, Fall 1978
Anthropology 15, Fall 1972
Anthropology 15, Fall 1973
Anthropology 15, Winter 1975
Anthropology 71, Spring 1985
Anthropology 108 - primate evolution 1967
Anthropology 108L - primate evolution lab 1967
Anthropology 108L, Fall 1973
Anthropology 109, Spring 1968
Anthropology 109, Winter 1972
Anthropology 109, Spring 1974
Anthropology 109, Winter 1981
Anthropology 109, Spring 1983
Anthropology 151 - classification of contemporary primates 1965
Anthropology 151, Spring 1965
Anthropology 151L, Spring 1965
Anthropology 152, Fall 1959
Anthropology 152, Fall 1960
Anthropology 152, Fall 1962
Anthropology 191, Spring 1984
Anthropology 195, Winter 1974
Anthropology 195/200 1976
Anthropology 195/200, Spring 1978
Anthropology 195, Winter 1979
Anthropology 200C, Spring 1972
Anthropology 200D, Fall 1968
Anthropology 383, primates - University of Chicago 1957
DIGS 10, human sociobiology, Winter 1977
DIGS 10, human sociobiology, January 1977
DIGS 10, human sociobiology, February 1977
DIGS 10, human sociobiology, March 1977
Letters and Science freshman seminar, Fall 1987
Scope and Content Note
Aging conference 1986
Anthropologists Look at Human Evolution 1984
Biological basis of behavior 1974
Classification in Physical Anthropology 1960-1961
Condon Lectures 1964
Conflict in Primate Society 1965
Cosmic Evolution, Man's Descent from the Stars 1972
Congressional seminar 1969
Design for Man symposium 1966
Desmond Clark conference 1985
Evolution of Human Nature 1965
Fourth International Congress of Primatology 1971-1972
Frontiers of Science 1986
Human Evolution after Raymond Dart 1985
Inter-university Forum for Educators in Community Psychiatry 1968
L. S. B. Leakey Foundation symposium, In search of man. . . 1983
National Association of Biology Teachers convention 1972
National Conference on Anthropology and Education 1968
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. . . 1967-1968
One Hundred Years of Biological Anthropology 1967
People, People's Problems and the Law 1977
Phi Beta Kappa, visiting scholar program 1962-1963
The Physical Anthropology of the American Indian 1951
Primate Behavior: Its Meaning for the Understanding of Man 1972
The Relationship of Form and Function of the Masticatory Apparatus 1956
Skill and the Evolution of Locomotion 1964
Smithsonian symposium 1986
Spring Hill Conference, American Social and Cultural Anthropology. . . 1976-1977
Symposium on Primate Behavior 1960
Symposium on Primate Behavior 1963
Symposium on Violence 1968
Symposium: Social Life of Early Man 1959
Stanford conference 1987
Taung Diamond Jubilee International Symposium 1984-1985
Television program on aggression 1969
Theodore Doney McCown 1969
UNESCO Conference, "Implications of the Understanding of Human Aggressiveness" 1970
U.C. Berkeley, instructional improvement program 1973-1977
Viking Fund Medal 1960
Wenner-Gren Conference, Origin of Man 1965
Wenner-Gren Conference, Origin of Man 1965
Wenner-Gren Conference, Primate Social Behavior 1964-1965
Wenner-Gren Conference, Primate Social Behavior, September 3, morning session 1965
Wenner-Gren Conference, Primate Social Behavior, September 3, afternoon session 1965
Wenner-Gren Conference, Primate Social Behavior, September 4, morning session 1965
Wenner-Gren Conference, Primate Social Behavior, September 4, afternoon session 1965
Wenner-Gren Conference, Primate Social Behavior [September 5?] [1965]
Wenner-Gren Conference, Primate Social Behavior September 6, morning session 1965
Wenner-Gren Conference, Primate Social Behavior, September 6, afternoon session 1965
Wenner-Gren Conference, Primate Social Behavior, [September 7, morning session?] [1965]
Wenner-Gren Conference, Primate Social Behavior, September 7, afternoon session 1965
Wenner-Gren Conference, Primate Social Behavior, September 9, morning session 1965
Wenner-Gren Conference, Primate Social Behavior, September 9, afternoon session 1965
Wenner-Gren Conference, Primate Social Behavior, September 10, afternoon session 1965
Wenner-Gren Conference, Primate Social Behavior September 10, morning session 1965
Wenner-Gren Supper Conference: Primate Studies 1967
Wenner-Gren Symposium, African Ecology and Human Evolution 1961
Wenner-Gren Symposium, Classification and Human Evolution 1961
Wenner-Gren Symposium, Classification and Human Evolution 1962
Wenner-Gren Symposium, Problems in the Evolution and Taxonomy. . . 1959-1960
Working Conference on the Feeding and Nutrition of Non-human Primates 1960
University professorship 1975-1990
National Science Foundation 1957-1974
National Science Foundation teaching project 1968
Professional activities 1960-1990
Sarich, Vincent 1985-1991
SERIES 6: BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION, 1932-1992, undated
Scope and Content Note
Biographical information 19 1939-1985
Certificates 1967-1982
Harvard University 1932-1936
Honors 1966-1990
Interviews 1952-1992
Naming of Washburn physical anthropology laboratories 1981
Newspaper clippings 1941-1986
Trip to East and South Africa 1948-1949
Trip to South Africa 1953-1955
U. C. Berkeley personnel records and correspondence 1957-1978
University of Chicago 1952-1958
Washburn's Ph.D. students undated
SERIES 7: PHOTOGRAPHS, circa 1936-1971.
Scope and Content Note
Anatomical diagrams undated
Animals in groups undated
Aziz and dunlap photographs undated
Baboons undated
Bones, fragments and pieces undated
Comparison of humans, quadrupeds and bipeds undated
Elephants undated
Human skeletons undated
Illustrations of primates undated
Kellner's drawings of sections undated
Kills undated
Lions undated
Miscellaneous primates undated
Miscellany undated
Monkeys at the Animal Behavior Station 1967, undated
Mounted diagrams undated
Pictorial teaching aids undated
People undated
Teeth, jaws and skulls: human and primate undated
Unidentified undated
Visit to Arizona State University, [Measurement engineering lecture series?] [1965?]
Wartenstein Castle, Austria, Wenner-Gren conference 1965
Washburn, friends and colleagues, Washburn birthday party 1971
X-rays of Papio mandible, taken by Washburn and Alan Mann undated
Comparison of humans, quadrupeds and bipeds (negatives) undated
X-rays of Papio mandible, taken by Washburn and Alan Mann (negatives) undated
Charts and tables (negatives) undated
Lions (negatives and positives) undated
Ostrich, bird and hippopotamus (negatives and positives) undated
Assorted ungulates (negatives and positives) undated
Vervets (negatives and positives) undated
Warthogs (negatives and positives) undated
Wildebeast and kudo (negatives and positives) undated
Zebra (negatives and positives) undated
Miscellaneous animals (negatives and positives) undated
Kills (negatives) undated
People (positives) undated
Eastern falls (negatives and positives) undated
Miscellany (negatives) undated
Human skeletons (positives) undated
Mounted photographs of bones (positives) undated
Animal behavior station (positives) 1966
Animal behavior station (positives) 1967
Dissections (positives) undated
Animals in groups (negatives) undated
University of Michigan Medical School, summer (negatives and positives) 1936
Illustrations by Judith Ogden (negatives) undated
Tools Makyth Man, Kenneth Oakley (negatives) undated
Baboons (negatives) undated
Anatomical diagrams (negatives) undated
Teeth, jaws and skulls; human and primate (negatives) undated
Antelope, impala and sable (negatives and positives) undated
Cape buffalo (negatives and positives) undated
Elephants (negatives and positives) undated
Miscellaneous primates (negatives) undated
Giraffes (positives) undated
Scenery (negatives and positives) undated
X-rays of Papio mandible, taken by Washburn and Alan Mann (negatives) undated
Unidentified (negatives) undated
Lion (negative) undated
Primate spines (negatives) undated
Figure 11-12 from Philip Hershkovits (negatives) undated
Chart (negatives) undated
Comparison of humans, quadrupeds and bipeds (negatives) undated
Human skull (negatives) undated
Teeth (negatives) undated
Unidentified (negatives) undated
Charts and tables undated
Illustrations by Judith Ogden undated
Baboons and other animals undated
Mounted photographs of baboons and other animals undated
Drawings undated
Mounted teeth photographs undated
Scope and Content Note
AAPA Meeting 1984
Reply to nature arising by C. E. Oxnard 1976
Review for N.Y. review of books 1977
Response to The Future Revisited by R. A. McConnell 1970
Antiquated Educational System Campus Chaos 1970
Race and Intelligence 1969
CRM books manuscripts 1971
Yerkes centennial advertisement 1980
Ape into human advertisement 1980
Human Locomotion Conference 1980
American Anthropological Association Distinguished Service Award 1980
Mankind 2000 International Conference 1980
American Association of Physical Anthropology, 50th meeting 1981
Smithsonian Institution 1975
Response to Wolpoff's Data and Theory in Paleo-anthropological Controversies 1975
77th birthday wishes 1988
NIMH grant review 1971
Institute of Human Origins 1986
Medical Anthropology Quarterly (due Oct. 1, 1986) 1986
Origin of Humankind, UCSD 1986
Anthropologists look on human evolution (Univ. ext.) 1984
CRM book: Origin of Man (unpublished) 1972
4th International Congress of Primatology (Honor and Dedication) 1972
Evaluation of Anatomical Features AAPA meeting 1973
Aggression and evolution of skull AAPA meeting 1973
Perspective on human evolution in Evolution Biology IV, Dobhansky 1972
The New Physical Anthropology Yearbook of P. A. (vol. 7) 1971
Sex difference in pubic bone of Bantu and Bushman, ATPA n. s.: 3 1949
Techniques in Primatology, AJPA briefs #3, NYC 1943
Reviews of classification and human evolution 1951-1965
Piltdown man 1953-1970
NSF grants (Analysis of skull form) 1955-1956
International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences 1962-1963
Social life of early man 1968-1971
Book review of Man the Hunter 1974
Human evolution (notes and papers) 1969
Human evolution series 1969
Neuroscience Research Program (Boulder, Co) 1969
The Evolution of Human Behavior in The Uniqueness of Man, Dolansky, ed. 1969
Origin of Aggressive Behavior in Behavior Sciences and Mental Health 1970
Human evolution: Past, Present, and Future undated
Primate studies and human evolution 1971-1972
Biographies and obituaries 1985-2000
An ape's eye-view of human evolution undated
Psychology and the evolution of man undated
The case for the study of evolution of man (1st draft) undated
Review undated
Speech (with Raleigh; unpublished) undated
Language and the fossil record (Birdsell; unpublished) undated
Project on the evolution on human behavior, Primates and human cancer 1958-1971
Baboon (Ambo.) 1958
Indian remains issue 1989-1991
International society for research on aggression 1974-1976
Biographies and Obituaries 1971-2000
Limerick Festschrift honoring the 60th birthday of Professor Washburn undated
Miscellaneous photos and slides undated
Taung baby sci. 227 1985
Metrical study of Langur and Macaque skeletons undated
Margaret Meade articles 1983
Nonhuman primates and medical research 1974
Smithsonian research 1965-1966
Society for the study of evolution 1963-1970
Southwestern Anthropological Association 1975-1977
Totus Homo 1975-1977
Yearbook of Physical Anthropology 1975
Strike circa 1965
Scientific American 1974-1975
Animals Do Not Make War circa 1960
Evolution of Intelligence NASA series undated
Expedition 1971-1974
American scientist 1973
La Recherché 1973
Perspective 4, Mary Foster Illustration undated
Piltdown Controversy 1972-1985
Piltdown hoax, Science 1979
The great apes illustration undated
Ape into human: correspondence 1979-1981
The great apes review 1980
Ape into human: (SLW field photos) undated
Oral history with Gruber 1978
Ape into human appendix 1979-1980
Oral history with Devore undated
Ape into human: (Warren and Romer's photo) undated
Ape into human: promotional 1973-1980
Ape into human: Ruth Moore correspondence 1978-1984
Dolinow-neé, Jay 1959-1962
Michael Little 1975-2000
Lowie Museum 1964-1977
Letters/notes 1968-1991
Buettner-Janusch 1979-1981
Clark LeGros 1964
Cronin, John E. 1955-1959
Goodall, Jane 1961-1962
Hooton, E undated
Isaac, Glynn 1984-1985
Landes 1975
MacroRoberts 1967-1970
Malmi 1973-1976
Muckenfuss 1971
Murphy, Greer M 1980-1981
Moorehouse 1975-1976
Olson, T. 1972-1974
Olson, D. 1972
Raleigh 1973-1977
Ripley 1962-1977
Ribnick 1977-1980
Robinson 1960
Simonds 1963-1972
Steklis 1972-1986
Strum 1972-1982
Symons 1942-1984
Tuttle 1963-1986
Sade, David 1963-1978
Weiss 1965-1980
Wesselman 1968-1973
Wilson 1963-1974
Wolpoff undated
Berreman, Gerald 1959-1965
Aché-Paraguar; Indigena 1973-1974
Notebooks (4) 1935-1937


text:
Who shot the rockets??
Two separate strikes near the main hospital in Gaza and the nearby Shati refugee camp on the edge of Gaza City, brought a stream of victims out of the medical center. Most news outlets report ten dead.
It was initially broadcast on MSNBC as a pair of Israeli airstrikes, that has been the pattern … then perhaps unsurprisingly, by 22 after the hour on Monday, EST, Tamron Hall was reporting that the strikes appear more and more to be friendly fire misfirings.
Now both sides are denying blame.
Which is almost more tragic. But by noon, we realize that NBC doesn't have a definitive view of who fired the rockets that caused the damage they are reporting in their crawl and on their website, see below. Andrea Mitchell had to get Ayman Mohyeldin back, to discuss. Then Susan Rice.
By chance, Mitchell already had National Security Advisor Susan Rice on her docket, and that footage is informative as well. She urged a political settlement and long-term disarmament and a future for both Gaza and Israel.
Mysteriously, NewsNation never put up Tamron Hall's footage of their field reporter, but I caught part of the footage in another NBC location and that is last, below. Maybe they'll have it figured out by Maddow. [Will update. Or click here just in case. Rachel Central.] But NBC ran footage of John Kerry's statements today, have a listen.
Hamas officials, as reported by Mohyeldin, feel that most of the Palestine people are tired of living under siege … but they'll fight to the end if they have to, because the existential fight is rather bigger than all of them, alive and dead.
That's one sobering look into the future.
From MSNBC's breaking coverage Monday morning.
Another strike occurred at the Al-Shati refugee camp in northern Gaza. At least 30 dead and wounded were brought to Shifa Hospital in ambulances, civilian cars and on motorcycles. A NBC News team in the area said the strikes were in "close succession."
However, the Israel Defense Forces told Haaretz that a "preliminary investigation has found the Israeli army did not fire at the Shifa Hospital, and the fire is believed to have been Hamas." The IDF could not immediately be reached to clarify that account on Monday.
MSNBC reported this with a bit of a personal angle, they had a film crew in the hospital at the time and they were on site to film the strike at the medical complex. The outpatient clinic was thought to the target of the 5 p.m. [Israeli time] extremely lethal missile.
The reporter on the ground, familiar NBC field newsman Ayman Mohyeldin, was there.
For some background, Lester Holt and Mohyeldin on Today over the weekend discussing one of the rolling cease fires John Kerry has been busily negotiating in an effort to quiet the roiling waters.
Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Well this is a pickle, which in turn ties right back to the Churchillian enigma that is the struggle in Gaza. I was on the other side of that border thirty years ago this summer, and it was as uncomfortable then as it must be now - and about as dangerous.
It was, however, before the Right Wing truly adopted Israel as their savior and their land as what will be their reward for enduring Obama and Armageddon: Rapture Ground Zero.
Just waiting for someone to beller, "At this point does it really matter who fired the rocket that killed 9 children at a refugee camp and hospital during a rolling cease fire in Gaza?" in shades of a righteously frustrated Hillary Clinton in the hot seat.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Hi folks,
When I was on my PGCE course last year my mentor mentioned a good role play about medieval pilgrimages called 'Why go on a pilgrimage?' by Jamie Byrom, but I stupidly forgot to get a copy of this.
Does anyone know how it works or has a copy they would be so kind as to share? I was hoping to use this with my Year 7s next term and continue to build on the role plays and simulations we have done this term!
Many thanks in advance,
why go on a pilgrimage
Started by Kayleigh , Mar 26 2012 07:57 PM
2 replies to this topic
Posted 26 March 2012 - 07:57 PM
Posted 27 March 2012 - 11:10 AM
Jamie tells me it was in Issue 99 of Teaching History (in May 2000) and the article is called "Why go on a medieval pilgrimage?"
Posted 05 April 2012 - 02:11 PM
Thank you very muchly!
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text:
Saturday the 10th of December, 2010
Now this is an awesome photo!
Excellent work! Freaking amazing!
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I can go from the mousey brown quiet to atrociously loud in a psychedelic second. I will listen to all of your stories and share a few of my own. I live with my head in the clouds but my feet are still firmly planted on the ground. I have a mum & dad who taught me right from wrong and a brother who always cares. I have a boyfriend & best friend who laughs at everything I do and takes all my individual traits with a side of amusement, I have a handful of special lady friends who hold my hand and lift my spirits high in the air and a couple of slightly more masculine friends who pick on my minuscule size but always mean well. Suffice to say I am a very blessed little twenty-one (almost!) year old soul living a rather faux gypsy lifestyle with a camera in her hands and the entire world at her feet. I am on the journey of a life time exploring different cultures, reading far too many books and all the while realizing how lucky a life I lead.
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text:
I tried to explain the income distribution to a community college student and she had no clue what the hell I was talking about. The one percent can sleep easy knowing fewer and fewer kids even know what a percent is!
Addition is a gateway skill -- it tends to lead to multiplication.
If we're not careful, this problem could grow exponentially.
What did people expect from a country which pledges to be indivisible?
In reality the real problem is the US's love affair with advertising, it has taken over the US mindscape, it matters not the way things are, all that counts is the way things are seen. Disingenuous distortions flood the US social landscape, where perceived delusions are preferable to reality as long as everyone can be socially forced to agree. Challenge it with truth and reality and you are attacked from every direction, media, politicians, corporations, law enforcement, religious fundamentalist groups etc. Not light attacks but solid and sustained ones including slanders, death threats and even direct violence. In fact the delusion is so great, so accepted, so powerful it is considered un-American to challenge the idea that the US is not number 1 in every regard, whereas the reality is the US is failing in many areas, except in the generation of bullshit, were is most certainly number 1 by a long margin likely beating out the rest of the world combined.
Whenever I see articles like the OP and comments like these, it always reminds me of this...
http://www.dailymotion.com/vid... [dailymotion.com]
I think advertising is only one of the symptoms, a part of a pattern of lies and bull. We've made educational achievement worth less than it used to be. Kids aren't stupid. When they see the straight A student not getting the job, the girl or boy, or any kind of reward, and indeed see this student vilified for being nerdy, spoiling the curve, and making everyone else look bad, what are they to think? At least the hate shows that people value intelligence if only in a backhanded way. But then the nice jobs go to the bosses' relatives and friends, the football coach is the highest paid employee of the school system, the teachers (many of whom were themselves poor achievers when they were the students) show jealousy and prejudice against intelligence, and many rich kids behave horribly and irresponsibly, maybe getting high and drunk and accidentally mowing down a hapless pedestrian with their high end sports car, and are let off easy. As adults, many move on to Wall Street, cheat and make a killing, then when the economy crashes, buffalo the entire nation into letting bygones be bygones because they're Too Big To Fail. Meanwhile, the intelligent kids who make a mistake get the book thrown at them because they're smart and should have known better.
There still has to be a pretense of a reason for making an unfair decision, but the veneer is pretty see-through thin.
I wasn't aware that Mexico is a South American country.
The US is going so downhill that even Mexico wants to distance itself from us...
No wonder other countries count better, they don't just have math, they have maths!
"South American countries such as...Mexico"
"South American countries such as...Mexico"
No, the quote from the article did not contain the words "South America," so it's the submitter or editor that is poor at geography. And quoting. And the first sentence was not attributed to the Professor in the article nor in the summary.
"South American countries such as...Mexico"
In other news, professors in US are in the Nile over poor geography standards.
When did Mexico become a South American country?
When did Mexico become a South American country?
Mexico is south of Americuns. You typo natzis really needs to Goetz overs yourselfs.
Morgan Spurlock made the idiotic comment about how Norway is "homogeneous" right before transitioning to his piece on a charter school with minority students who were excelling.
SES or "Socio-Economic Status" is the most common race bait thrown around in the education system. Anyone who has experience outside the public education system figures out real quick that you can't look at the skin color or bank account of a student to see how well they're doing.
Racism is the last excuse that our failed public education system still clings to. That and "we don't have enough money."
It's just one of the many reasons why despite being certified to teach high school math, I have no intention of ever teaching in a public school. I'm more interested in helping out at my daughter's small private school. My summer project is overhauling their library system. I've already fixed all the laptops as well as they can be. If possible I'd like to go into a part time teaching role to help out.
The school is filled with students from a variety of racial backgrounds and financial circumstances and oddly enough I can't judge their grades by any of that.
Sounds like "fuck the poor" to me.
Socio-economic status never stood for race, you're just conflating the fact that minorities are more likely to be poor than wealthy with the correlation between SES and educational outcome. The relationship between SES and economic outcome has been extensively studied, and in my opinion boils down to one thing: opportunities. Low SES kids can't afford basic school supplies, can't move to good school districts, can't study abroad, can't intern for free, etc. etc.
You can't pretend that a lack of money doesn't cripple your chances of receiving a quality education.
No, it has little to do with the fact that being poor means you don't have opportunity. Being poor means your parents probably don't value education, so you probably don't value education, so you probably don't get an education.
If you are rich, you probably got that way by being educated, so you value education, so your children value education, so your children get an education.
It's not like opportunity has no effect, just that opportunity doesn't mean education. In other words, throwing money at the problem doesn't solve it. That's not to say money doesn't help, but it's better spent on giving the poor kids breakfast or community outreach than school supplies.
I've always believed that a child who wants to learn will find a way to learn. The hard part isn't teaching them -- it's getting them to want to learn in the first place! And that starts in the home, not in the school
That's closer to the truth but a poor way of putting it. It makes it sounds like poor families affirmatively choose to be poor.
The difference between your average poor family and average rich family is two fold: 1) time and 2) modeling habits.
Take, for example, bed time reading. A rich family has more time to spend every night reading to their kid. They probably also grew up that way, as well as all their friends. They feel compelled to do it the way most of us feel compelled to brush our teeth.
As both kids
It's not the schools that need more money; it's the families. Children are behind from the beginning (kindergarten) and don't catch up because in general, their environment is not conducive to learning. Parents often can't get involved because they have to work multiple jobs (or don't speak/read English well enough...). There is also more trouble from violence, gangs, drugs, etc. Socio-economic status has a lot to do with it.
(Of course, there will still be stellar children who succeed in spite of it all, but they are not the norm.)
You know, maybe you should try teaching in a school that is almost completely made up of children from a very poor socio-economic status before you claim to know it all and spout bullshit.
Exactly. A ton of effort is being made to change the educational system so "no child is left behind" or so we can "race to the top." However, all of the educational gaps go away when you account for poverty. A poor kid who is worried if he'll get to eat dinner tonight and breakfast tomorrow, who is worried that his dad has been out of work for months and they might lose their apartment, who is worried that his older brother had to drop out of school to get a minimum wage job to help support his family... that kid is not going to be very focused on learning. Take away his worries about money/food/etc and he'll do just as well as any other kid who doesn't need to worry about those things.
But it's easier for the politicians to just blame teachers for not teaching hard enough and then order more high stakes tests to "hold the teachers' feet to the fire" or threaten to shut down public schools because poor kids can go to those expensive private schools instead, right?
I spent a couple of years teaching in the Boston Public Schools. Your analysis is too simplistic. I had students who had recently immigrated from Cape Verde, who were fluent only in Cape Verdean Creole and whose parents never completed the 8th grade. I also had a student who had been in foster homes her entire life. I discovered after awhile that she couldn't see the board and that her foster parents were unwilling to pay out of pocket to buy glasses - she had broken two pairs of glasses and hit the limit for what MassHealth would pay for that year.
You can't just ignore the impact that these experiences have on a child's ability to learn. It's completely unfair to compare outcomes from private schools, which would never accept a student who barely spoke English or a sullen, resentful product of the foster care system (not that these children would ever apply) to schools that are required to accept all comers.
There are many problems that public schools create for themselves and have nothing to do with students, but the idea that socio-economic status doesn't effect student outcomes is just not accurate. c.f. this NYTimes article on the University of Texas for a week ago: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/18/magazine/who-gets-to-graduate.html?_r=0
Racism is the last excuse that our failed public education system still clings to. That and "we don't have enough money."
White flight is extremely real. Resources are distributed very unevenly.
And yet "racism" doesn't begin to encompass the range of reasons that some schools end up with 90%+ minority populations and with low funding.
Despite quadrupling per-pupil costs of public schools since 1962 [ed.gov] (inflation-adjusted), the education remains the same or is getting worse. In some particularly well-managed cities, the costs are even higher and the results — even worse [cnsnews.com], than national average. This article is about Math, but ability to read remains rather sub-par as well — with only 30% of 8th-graders, for example, considered "proficient" readers [mediamatters.org].
Clearly, we need to spend more money...
We might need to spend more money on helping people improve their memory so that they don't, say, just as a random example, post the same shit twice in one thread on Slashdot.
It was law that every high school student had to pass algebra, geometry, trigonometry before they could graduate.
They also had to take a class on the constitution.
According to the linked article, one place that is nosediving in the US is California. Whether that is more due to immigration or per-student spending dropping behind the US average [cbp.org] due mainly to referendums on property taxes, I don't know.
That's the average SAT score for students entering college... Which automatically filters out those students who weren't good enough to get in. It's not an average of all test-takers...
All that graph tells you is that admission standards for college have been climbing since 1992...
Also, it's not clear how that chart reflects the "recentering" that change the way scores were calculated from 1995 onwards...
The data across all test-takers [nbcnews.com] (not just those who are admitted to college), tells a different story...
Every time the new PISA scores come out, everyone goes apeshit about how the US is lagging behind East Bumfuckistan and how we're going to fall behind in this increasingly high tech world. And I really do mean "every time" the new PISA scores come out, as in they've been saying this since the 1960s [huffingtonpost.com] when international testing began.
And as we all know, the US has become a desolate wasteland of a third world country since the 1960s, right? Right?
Or maybe the PISA scores really aren't that important and we can all just relax a bit.
From the article:
Southern states Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana are among the weakest performers, with results similar to developing countries such as Kazakhstan and Thailand.
Yeah, I teach math at a large university in the deep south, and this doesn't surprise me at all. Students are unprepared for college math classes, and I see a lot of behavior that I wouldn't have expected in a math class. For example, I always have students that try to memorize their way through class, mostly in calculus 1. They don't practice any problems, they don't try to understand the material, but they've got flash cards and highlighted notes and sticky tabs out the wazoo.
It's like they all had a bunch of "study skills" drilled into them in high school and no one ever bothered to explain that these are supposed to aid actually understanding the material. They're so used to just regurgitating things onto tests that I guess a lot of them really do think memorizing is understanding.
Now I realize the following is just anecdotal, but I know several people who teach high school math throughout the deep south, and all of them say the same thing: they aren't really allowed to teach. School administrators have a death grip on teachers' jobs. Teachers are told what, when, and how to teach the material. They're basically reading scripts. And of course they're all teaching to the state end of course tests too, probably because those are used to measure administrators' performances.
Teachers are told what, when, and how to teach the material. They're basically reading scripts.
This is the real problem here. We need to abolish whatever part of the system is generating those demands, to free the teachers to actually teach. Some might do worse in a free-form system but I'll bet lots could do better when they could tailor teaching to the kids they have.
Welcome to standardized testing for everyone. They drill the kids on facts because the learning standards testing is primarily fact based. They've forgotten that half the students won't be working a cash register or a driving a hammer or pipe wrench, and have completely eliminated critical thinking as a skill - mainly because it's not an easy-to-test condition. 70% of humans will never understand abstract critical thinking, so its unfair to test everyone on it when the purse strings are attached to 90% pass rates. So they don't test for it, but the panic to hit that 90% threshold means everything becomes secondary to drilling for those tests.
As you say, there are exceptions. Great teachers, great students, great schools do exist. But the vast majority - the administrations and teachers who just want to keep their jobs to feed their families, and the students (who, let's face it, at 15 or 16) just want to get a good grade and go do something fun the 6 hours they're not locked in school - are streamlining the path of least resistance and maximum results for the path that is laid before them by legislators who have never held a piece of chalk.
And of course they're all teaching to the state end of course tests too, probably because those are used to measure administrators' performances.
Parent of 3 school-age kids here, and this right here really bugs the bejeebers out of me. For normal school tests, the ones that count for my own kids grades during the year, and their own ability to get into college, etc., I don't hear a peep out of a teacher ever. I don't even know they are happening unless I interrogate my kids every day.
But when those EOI tests [ok.gov] come around, which are important for the teachers and schools but don't do squat for my own kids, they damn sure let me know all about it! I get voicemails. I get emails. I get robocalls. Their grandparents get called. I messages sent home with the kids. All informing me how important it is that this one day they get lots of sleep and a good morning breakfast.(!) Even worse, the kids come home all stressed about it, so I know the teachers have been beating on them about it at school too. Over a test that doesn't help them at all.
This is actually one of the "better" school districts in the state too. But after a 15 years of this, its pretty clear that the system is not set up in a way that makes my kid's grades a priority for the school or for their teachers. Its gotten to the point that I've set the caller picture for the school's robo-calls to the album cover for Queen's News of the World [wikipedia.org], so I can instantly recognize them.
Seriously. I've looked at the problems CC curriculum presents as "math".
The way they lay out and ask you to solve problems is insane. Absolutely and utterly BONKERS (and not in a good way).
If you think the US is bad at math NOW, wait until CC has had a few cycles to sink its hooks in.
You're going to have people actively HATING math in a way that'd be ludicrous even today.
And these people who'd be able to solve even a SIMPLE concrete math problem to save their lives.
As I understand it, the problem that CC is trying to solve is that most kids don't have a gut-level understanding of what numbers actually *mean*.
I went to school with a lot of people that just memorized the rules, but didn't really have a feel for them. And so when the circumstances changed they couldn't adjust the rules to deal with the new circumstances. (Dealing with binary or hex, for example. Or curved space, or alternate coordinate systems.)
So with CC they're trying to give kids a more intuitive feel for numbers. That said, the alternate techniques are supposed to be *in addition* to the ones that we all learned, not instead of them. And the alternate techniques are not as efficient as the traditional techniques (which are optimized for the common case) but they're more flexible. So some questions (like those involving large numbers) don't mesh well with techniques involving counting/drawing/reordering/etc.
Lastly, some of the issues are due to bad question design, bad teaching, etc. We've got centuries of experience teaching the traditional techniques, not so much with the new stuff.
Scientists and techs are portrayed as either evil or socially inept in the movies. Why would anyone value any form of education that led to that? As long the perception exists people aren't going to value maths, or any other, education that lead them to be enablers of society.
And those perceptions are bought to us by the same people who want DRM everywhere so they continue to harvest money for crap movies that have nothing new.
I don't think it's any accident that the educational system in America has been brought to its current state. Because only a totally uneducated mass of people will be baffled by balloons. And yellow ribbons and little flags and buzz words and guys saying "new world order" and shit like that, I mean, only a person who has been dissuaded from any kind of critical thinking and doesn't know geography, doesn't know the English language - I mean if you can't speak English, then this stuff works on you. One of the things that was taken out of the curriculum was civics. Civics was a class that used to be required before you could graduate from high school. You were taught what was in the U.S. Constitution. And after all the student rebellions in the '60s, civics was banished from the student curriculum and was replaced by something called social studies. Here we live in a country that has a fabulous constitution and all these guarantees, a contract between the citizens and the government - nobody knows what's in it. It's one of the best kept secrets. And so, if you don't know what your rights are, how can you stand up for them? And furthermore, if you don't know what is in that document, how can you care if someone is shredding it?
circa 1988
The US is Number One! Anyone who disagrees is a communist!
The US has an insanely powerful culture of avoiding self-criticism.
deny our performance relative to the rest of the world?
We deny the age of the earth.
We deny the existence of climate change or global warming and man's effect on it.
We deny the concentration of wealth and power among a few and its potential and real harm.
I could go on...
I have a series of math text book from the 50's that I bought at a garage sale for $10, when I was homeless high school drop out. I used them to brush up on Algebra Trig and Calculus as preparation for teaching myself higher mathematics, compiler theory, and etc. CS theory. They are far superior to today's mathematics books.
A few years after me, my younger brother became a sophomore in high school and was struggling with mathematics. I tried to help him with his homework, but the terminology was wickedly alien. I said, "Is this even algebra? What the hell are they on about?" I showed him how to solve the problems using the methods that worked for me but he said, "No, you don't get it, I can't do it that way I have to do it the way my teacher wants or it doesn't count." That's asinine, if the solution fits then it's equivalent. However, I had experience with such oppressive systems myself, so I knew the only thing to do was start from the first chapter and re-learned their bullshit terminology so I could show him the book's particular way of performing and wording the calculation. I realized that the textbook sellers changed the wording and methods of teaching mathematics over the years, not only to yield more book sales for newer curriculum and re-assert copyright anew, but also to make mathematics more in line with the (supposed) way girls learn.
It's unconscionable for teachers to remain willfully ignorant that boys and girls think differently in general [bbc.co.uk]; Only a complete moron would think that brains were immune to sexual dimorphism that had such drastic effects on the rest of the human body. It was common knowledge that men and women have different personalities in general, but strangely research was lacking in the area of sex differences in behavior. [wikipedia.org] However, the feminist mantra that men and women are not different drowns out opposing facts. [youtube.com] Strange when you consider that they lobbied for changes to the way mathematics and sciences were taught to make them more easy for girls to learn them. Drop the damn stereotyped learning, everyone goes at different rates and different methods are better for different folks, and yes, sexual dimorphism will cause a trend in certain graphs, but that doesn't mean we can't embrace outliers too. Just consider the student as individuals for once: If a boy or girl is having trouble learning via one method, then teach them the other. If that means you wind up more girls or boys in the class that teaches more event based and auditory methods vs visual and hands-on methods then THAT'S OK. If you want to end sexism, racism, homophobia, etc. you have to consider the individual's experience regardless of any group you classify them as being; Stop using identity politics, they only create more inequality in the name of equality.
The feminists leveraged their sexist ideology and identity politics quite effectively by pointing to the disparity in female enrollment and graduation from college, especially in STEM fields. What they failed to realize is that my mom was in the slide-rule club in high school, and she didn't need sex tailored teaching. Their changes didn't help girls to learn, they merely made it harder for some to learn than others. The textbooks I have from the 50's and 60's teach mathematics in concise and plain terms. They don't use too many ridiculous analogies and mental gymnastics. Word problems weren't a focal point past elementary levels. It wasn't that all girls learn different than all boys, it was that there are different methods to teaching that individuals are better at understanding, and there is a trend in which methods boys and girls favor. However, these changes just muddled the methods and muddied the waters.
Another problem has been brewing in education for a wile now too: Standardized Testing AKA Poor Penalization.
e-credibility: the non-guaranteeable likelihood that the electronic data you're seeing is genuine rather than somebody's made-up crap. - Karl Lehenbauer


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After not having a flu shot for many years (10-15 years?), I was persuaded a couple of years ago to do it. My employer has them come to our workplace to do them cheap, and a coworker was on the way to do it and encouraged me to join him.
Then, last winter, another friend of mine swore he'd never get one, because doing it year-in and year-out for many years can be hazardous. (I won't get into the arguments, but you can Google "flu shot dangers" if you're interested.)
Despite not having the shot for years, I have not had the flu for at least a decade, if not longer. On the other hand, it's hard to not get caught up in the flu "hype" (for lack of a milder word) that we hear from the media.
So, what have you done in the past? What are you going to do this year? Flu shot or no?


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Current Publication:
Quintessence International
October 2012
43 , Issue
Intraoral foreign bodies detected 40 years after a car accident using cone beam computed tomography
Nicole Schnider, Dr Med Dent/Peter A. Reichart, Prof Dr Med Dent/ Michael M. Bornstein, PD Dr Med Dent
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To see adult content (Parental Act), confirm you are over 18 years old
mainly started out as a blogger, then widening horizonts took up photography on an amateur level.
The photos are documents of spontaneous time spending and my sporadic travels.
Simply trying to get the best out of my dig camera which is no DSLR, nor with a good lens. Dependent on its abilities , i catch what most "disturbs" my all-seeing eye.
All works by imagenic (8 pictures)


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Christmas on Candy Cane Lane
Dressed in festive colors of red, green and white, first grade students at South St. Marys Street Elementary sang and danced their way through their class musical, "Christmas on Candy Cane Lane," presented on Tuesday afternoon. The 20-minute musical centered around Candy Cane Lane, which was abuzz with festive holiday preparation. Amidst the candy canes, lights, wreaths and evergreen Christmas trees, trouble was brewing as the candy canes debated over which was the best color for them, red or green.The candy canes went off in search of opinions from the evergreen trees, who of course chose green as their preferred color. Santa weighed in with his favorite color of red. The Color Guard kept a watchful eye on the search throughout the musical.In the end it was Mrs. Claus, with the help of her elves, who provided a clever solution, creating a special red, green and white candy cane in her candy shop.For more on this story, see the Dec. 22 edition of The Daily Press.


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Its Monday! Save. Me.
Anyway – just so you know, there's a new button above where you can vote for Cosmetic Candy's blog posts at the Appletiser Awards. I've been told to draw your attention to it, so there you go, attention diverted!
You do have to register, but you get free apples. Possibly. Vote for us, we will send you much invisible kisses.
Here are the winners of the 5 day pre Christmas Giveaway.
Day 1: Ruby & Millie Metallics Kit
Day 2: No. 7 Hand and Footcare Set
Day 3: Clynol Hair Styling Set
Kelly Manton
Day 4: Green People Pure Body Gift Set
Day 5: Ruby & Millie Brush Set
Do send me your address via Email (use the contact form) or I will get in touch shortly. I won't be able to send these goodies out until the end of the week/early next week so just be aware of that you won't get it *right* away!
From Tuesday there will be a new five day giveaway, so remember to enter!
Also fingers crossed that I will get a little blog sale up for the end of the week. I am desperate for some space and I want to be in control of my stash!
Happy January!


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The lights are on
A few months ago we asked readers if a video game has ever spurred them to try a new real-life activity. Tony Hawk Pro Skater proved to be the most influential and injury-causing game. Here are some of the responses.
Have video games inspired you to undertake any real-life activities? Share your experiences in the comments below!
Email the author Jeff Marchiafava, or follow on Google+, Twitter, and Game Informer.


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Help, discussion, magazine feedback and more
Moderators: ChriThor, LXF moderators
How do you convert people to OS (if convert is the right word)? I've installed FireFox on every PC of ever person who would let me, but that's probably only about 10 computers. Any success stories?
What would really make my day, is to walk into WH Smiths, or GAME, or any other high street store, and be able to choose commercial games, that were designed for Linux, without having to rely on middleware (Wine, Cedega etc). Maybe one day, this will happen as more and more people come home to Linux as their favoured Operating System.
Until then I won't hold my breath .... just in case
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I don't agree, but so be it.
But now, there's a new movement, to protect the right to carry knives. No, I am not joking. You can check it out for yourself here. The "knife rights" folks are upset about new Customs regulations. Their website says:
"As you are aware, Customs is proposing to prohibit the import of assisted and one-hand opening pocket knives and in the process has so broadly re-defined what a Switchblade is under the Federal Switchblade Act, that it could cover almost all pocket knives, with potential far-reaching consequences to every knife owner. Our best bet to stop Customs in the short term is for Congress to prevent them from spending a dime to implement their proposed ruling. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Appropriations Bill will be taken up by the Senate starting on Tuesday, July 7th. We need your help NOW to rally support for an amendment to stop funding for this Customs rulemaking."
You can also get pro-knife T-shirts and other sharp stuff.
I think the right-to-knife movement has a lot going for it. They could have their own official song:
And their own official play, too.
I guess there's no limit to what shameless fundraisers will do to con cash out of terrified conservative Americans. I'm sure President Obama and Vice President Biden are rubbing their palms this minute, dreaming of the day when they have banned knives in this wonderful country of ours.
Hooray for free speech and the right-to-knife.


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And I actually think that a really dirty IT job is when management enforces the implementation of a hack that may not only be insecure but also possibly illegal.
My teacher stayed in a nearby motel and hacked in over the telephone, but a military officer with expertise in security parachuted into the base at night - it's a big base, with lots of wide open space.
He started breaking into computer rooms. Interestingly, he was detected but not caught. My teacher intercepted emails from the base staff warning that an intruder had been seen in the area.
Eventually they went public, and submitted a report to the staff as to how they could improve security.
They emphasized that this sort of thing is meant to help, and not to cost anyone their jobs.
...help desk zombie, but even lower on the totem pole, is the on-site reboot specialist...
Having done both, I completely disagree. In fact, I have yet to meet a help desk zombie who hasn't dreamed of becoming an on-site reboot specialist. It doesn't take long for a help desk zombie to wish they could simply get the person on the other end of the phone to do what they tell them and nothing else, or even just understand what they have told them. Getting to be an on-site reboot specialist allows one to work directly on a machine without the person who has no idea playing a literal game of telephone with your instructions to mess things up. In addition, on-site rebooters usually get paid more for doing less and can get rid of angry customers at least for a time by telling them to go get coffee. The only real exception I've seen to this would be the Graveyard Support Vampire who have other priorities than more money or getting the job done ASAP to meet quota.
Regarding the Undead of #6...
Help Desk is a Customer Service position requiring a basic level of technical competence & teachability, NOT a tech position requiring only a basic level of people skills. This is especially true when the Help Desk person is dealing primarily with people with minimal to no technical skills.
The job should go to someone who likes people-- and who may not want an IT career per se, but does enjoy tinkering around with the stuff a little and learning a little bit about it. It
Every place I've worked that had a decent sized IT department had two types of people; Help Desk / Operators that had been there 10+ years, and help desk staff that got promoted or moved on within six months.
at the ISP (Sasktel) help desk job i had last summer, the average lifespan of a consumer-side help desk tech was 12 months. from there they'd be sorted by their skills. some to level 2, some to testing, some to business support, some to 611, some become "hat racks" (someone with the skillsets for all of the above), some to field techs, some become central office techs, etc.
Vinge [wikipedia.org] thought that "Programmer-archaeologist" might be a growth career area [wikipedia.org].
"If it's not loud, it doesn't work!" -- Blank Reg, from "Max Headroom"


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Rheinmetall announced yesterday that it tested a 50 kW high-energy laser (HEL) technology demonstrator at the end of November. The test at the company's Ochsenboden proving ground in Switzerland involved detecting, tracking and engaging a target in scenarios including air defense and countering rockets, artillery, mortars and asymmetric threats.
Rheinmetall photos
The technology demonstrator consisted of two functional models: a 30 kW weapon station integrated into an Oerlikon revolver gun air defense turret for static and dynamic tests, coupled with an Oerlikon Skyguard fire control unit; and a 20 kW weapon station integrated into a first-generation revolver gun turret. It cut through a 15 mm-thick steel girder at a range of 1,000 meters, shot down several diving target UAVs at a range of two kilometers flying over 50 meters a second, and engaged an 82 mm-diameter steel ball representing a mortar round and traveling around 50 meters a second, according to Rheinmetall.
As the next step, Rheinmetall plans to build a 60 kW technology demonstrator in 2013 and integrate 35mm Ahead revolver guns into the system to identify and study possible synergies between laser weapons and automatic cannon. The company will also continue work on mobile HEL weapons on different platforms.
In September 2011, Rheinmetall shot down an unmanned aerial vehicle with a 10-kW laser weapon demonstrator and sank a moving rubber raft with a 1-kW laser weapon module mounted on a TM 170-type vehicle.


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Demore published in latest ASCO Post
May 1, 2012 - Dr. Nancy Demore, associate professor of surgical oncology, will be published in the May 1st edition of ASCO Post.
As part of her ongoing research in oncology at UNC, Dr. Demore's article "Inhibition of SFRP2 Found to Inhibit Growth of Triple-negative Breast Tumors." will be published in the May 1st edition of the American Society of Clinical Oncology's bi-monthly publication, the ASCO Post.
The ASCO Post is a newspaper-style publication published by Harborside Press under a license arrangement with the American Society of Clinical Oncology. The publication is circulated to approximately 27,000 oncologists and other cancer specialists, including all ASCO members within the United States.
To view Dr. Demore's article and the latest realease of the ASCO Post, visit their website.


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Technical Problem With This Chapter?
Author: Iniga
Story: Raised to the Third Power
Part: 1: House Arrest
Rating: Young Teens
Setting: Pre-HBP
Status: Completed
Reviews: 0
Words: 4,970
Updated: May 20, 2004, 1:07pm
1: House Arrest
Ron stared sullenly out the window of the Gryffindor common room. "I wish we could go outside," he said.
"You've only been out of the hospital wing since last night. You'd probably just get tired right away anyway," Hermione pointed out in a manner which was intended to be soothing and matter-of-fact but which came across as superior and annoying.
"We could still go outside and lie by the lake," said Ron even more irritably.
"It's been raining for two days. We'd get wet," answered Hermione. Even Ron had to admit that she had a point there.
"It's raining, but it still gets awfully boring having to stay inside all the time, though," said Harry, trying to see the positions of both of his friends.
"It's better than having the Death Eaters--" Hermione began severely, but Harry cut her off.
"I know, I know. I know that as well as you do. I'm very glad and very grateful that they didn't get inside. I still think it was nicer when we could go outside." Harry was starting to feel irritable as well, although he had less cause to do so than did Ron. He glanced thoughtfully at Ron now. Ron was still glaring out the window. "Did they get Percy out?" he finally asked, not quite remembering why he and Hermione had been avoiding that question. He was sure that they had had a reason. At least, Hermione must have had a reason, because she now raised her eyebrows in disapproval.
Ron nodded, still not taking his eyes away from the pouring rain. "They took him out around four this morning. Mum and Dad and Bill and Charlie left then, too."
"Who's the Secret-Keeper?" Harry asked without thinking.
"He can't tell you that!" Hermione exclaimed, looking even more annoyed with Harry than she had previously. "He can't even tell you if he knows, let alone who it is if he does. Wasn't that the point of dragging his whole family here? So the Death Eaters wouldn't be able to narrow it down?"
Ron caught Harry's eye midway through Hermione's speech. "Much as I'd like to tell you what I do or don't know just to annoy Hermione, she's right." He choked on these last two words, and a look of gloating came into Hermione's brown eyes.
"There's one thing I wonder," she said slowly, after carefully avoiding saying that she'd told Harry so.
"What's that?" asked Ron. "Tell you if you help me with my Potions essay."
"You don't want help; you want me to write it for you."
"So?" Hermione cast her eyes down in exasperation. "What do you wonder?" Ron prompted.
"Never mind."
"All right." Ron turned to Harry and began a cheery discussion of the Chudley Cannons' most recent almost-win, which had occurred a few months earlier.
"Why didn't Percy just stay here?" Hermione blurted out eventually.
Ron's cheeriness fell to the floor with a thud. "Because if You-Know-Who does get in here, most of us he'll just kill. Percy he'd drive mad, or torture real slowly. Something like that."
Hermione's eyes strayed inadvertently to Harry. "Then why . . . ?"
She did not finish the question. She did not need to.
"Dumbledore's got his reasons, I reckon," answered Ron before the silence could stretch into a horribly uncomfortable state. "Maybe there's something Percy's supposed to be doing, wherever he is. But what Harry's supposed to be doing is going to school, here."
"And we have class soon," she added, standing up and looking around for her books, which were already meticulously organized and ready to go.
"Who is it today? Lupin or Ryan?" asked Ron.
"Remus," said Harry with a grin. He never protested attending a Defense Against the Dark Arts class if Remus Lupin was the professor.
"One of these days you're going to call him that during class and he'll have to take points," said Hermione with disapproval.
Harry shrugged. "He'd find a way to give them back."
"No, he wouldn't. He's a good professor. He's very impartial. I mean, he's partial to you because he knew your parents, but he's not partial to Gryffindor."
"All he has to be is partial to me, and, anyway, I'm not going to call him 'Remus' during class." Harry stood up as well.
"Still, I'll be glad when Professor Ryan comes back. She's a good teacher, too, and we don't have to worry about you calling her 'Cynthia.'"
"You don't have to worry about me calling Remus 'Remus,' either. Besides, Ryan's coming back in two days. Remus said so at breakfast."
"That'll make the Slytherins happy," Ron growled. "Of course, they're happy enough as it is. You'd think they'd actually gotten inside the castle."
"The Slytherins are inside the castle," replied Harry dryly.
"You know what I meant. The Death Eaters. They meant to take the whole thing and kill all of us who don't support them, but all they did was make the castle shake a little. I slept through it." Ron grinned as if his ability to sleep had proven that Hogwarts would never fall to the Dark Lord.
"They also got the snakes inside," said Hermione with a shudder. She harbored no special fear of snakes, but the snakes had entered the castle through a portal in her dormitory. Luckily, she and her roommates, along with the rest of the Gryffindors, had been sleeping in the Great Hall that night.
"They're just snakes. If we were in real danger, they would have closed the school or something. Remember how they almost did when the Chamber of Secrets was opened? Besides, now we know what they made Padma do when she was under the Imperius Curse. Put in a portal when she thought she was fixing Parvati's mirror. That's nothing."
"But Ron, I know the teachers and the Aurors have looked, but she could have done all kinds of other things without knowing--" Hermione began to protest, but Harry interrupted.
"We don't want to be late, Hermione."
"Tell that to Ron, he's the one who's still just sitting there."
"We don't want to be late, Ron," Harry obediently repeated.
"All right. As it's Remus." He stood and gathered his books, basking in the joy of Hermione's disapproval at his choice of address for their professor. The three friends made their way to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom and grinned hello to their professor, who smiled back at them. They were the last to arrive save Neville Longbottom, who had probably forgotten something and run back to get it.
When Neville at last dashed in, mumbling apologies, Professor Lupin cleared his throat and instantly had the attention of the class. "I regret to inform you," he said in a melodious voice, "that there will be no practical lessons in this class for several days. Professor Ryan and I have decided that when a unit is to be divided between us, it will be less detrimental for you if the unit involves written work."
"Sir?" Seamus' hand shot into the air, and Lupin suppressed a smile. He knew exactly what Seamus wanted to say, for Seamus said it each and every time he was given the slightest opportunity.
"Yes, Seamus?"
"Since Professor Ryan is so busy with her duties as an Auror, wouldn't it be better if you took on the position full time? I'm only saying this because I wouldn't want our educations to suffer because of this constant switching of instructors, especially with the OWLs coming up." A speech that would have sounded smarmy and sickening coming from Draco Malfoy sounded only affectionate and teasing coming from Seamus.
Lupin shook his head. "I don't believe your friends in Slytherin House would approve of that." Seamus and Dean both snorted loudly, and most of the rest of the class snickered. Lupin would allow the non-standard classroom behavior to go just so far, however, and his voice took on a commanding edge. "Take out your quills." The students rushed to obey.
"We are going to discuss the properties of Loyalty Oaths. Loyalty Oaths are generally not considered to be as relevant to the study of Defense Against the Dark Arts as are the spells you need to avoid a Dark creature or the ability to avoid or fight a curse or a hex. They only work in rare circumstances, they are difficult to test, they are difficult to perform, they can lead to unpleasant confrontations between the performers, and they can be inconsistent even under the best circumstances.
"Loyalty Oaths are generally divided into three categories. Can anyone tell me one of them?"
The class was silent. Even Hermione did not know the answer.
"Can anyone tell me why Harry is alive? What we understand of why Harry is alive, at any rate?" Lupin asked in a perfectly normal tone of voice, as if it was not unusual to have the object of discussion and subject of many Dark Arts textbooks sitting before him. In truth, after all, it wasn't unusual for him to teach a class that included Harry Potter; and at breakfast, he had sought Harry out and asked for permission to discuss him by name.
Hesitantly, reluctantly, the hands of the class members rose in the air. "Dean?" asked Lupin, picking a student at random.
"His mother wouldn't get out of the way and let You-Know-Who kill him?" Dean mumbled.
"That's correct." Harry saw Lupin send a quick glance in his direction to see if he was handling the discussion well. Harry tried to smile in response; he knew that Lupin did not want to talk about Lily Potter's death any more than he himself did. "That is the most famous, most recent, and most powerful example of a Blood Oath. A Blood Oath is a Loyalty Oath that can only be cast on a direct relative of the person doing the casting. Direct descendants, siblings, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, and first cousins for certain. Sometimes they will work on second cousins or great aunts, a connection of that nature, but not always. The blood is the important thing, not the feelings of the wizards or witches for each other. An adoring mother cannot save the life of her adopted child with a Blood Oath. A brother who has sworn vengeance against his sister *can* save her life with a Blood Oath.
"Blood Oaths are different from other Loyalty Oaths because they do not involve an actual spell. There is no incantation and no need for a wand, a potion, an amulet, or anything of the sort. The only requirement is a close biological relationship. In its most dramatic form, the Ultimate Oath, a Blood Oath is simply the willingness to die for another human being. This only occurs when the witch or wizard is present while the Oath's object is in immediate danger. A variation on the Ultimate Oath does occur without blood relationships because of the sacrifice and emotions involved, and they are difficult to tell apart. That variation falls into the second category of Loyalty Oaths.
"In its middle form, it can be a genuine desire to bring someone who is dying back to life. This version of a Blood Oath is also dramatic, and is sometimes called a Suicide Oath even though it is far less likely to result in the witch or wizard's death than the Ultimate Oath. In a Suicide Oath, the witch or wizard will actually cut himself or herself and allow his or her blood to spill onto the exposed skin of the dying family member. The Suicide Oath is rather Medieval-- all Blood Oaths are very old magic-- and is not known to work consistently, even by the standards of Blood Oaths.
"In its mildest form, a Blood Oath offers strength to family members who are residing in close proximity to one another. It is an almost entirely unconscious process that springs from magical auras connecting, but it also works between witches or wizards and Muggles who are part of the same family. If you have Muggle parents, they cast as much of a Simple Blood Oath on you as wizard parents would be able to do. A Simple Blood Oath is most useful when it comes to casting protective spells, particularly disorientation spells, and wards around a residence."
Lupin stopped speaking at last and watched as his students hastened to write down all he had said. "Can anyone guess the next kind of Loyalty Oath?" he asked when his voice and their hands had had a rest.
Ron, to everyone's slight surprise, raised his hand slowly. "Is the Fidelius Charm a Loyalty Oath?" he asked when Lupin nodded.
"Yes. Very good, Ron. Ten points to Gryffindor. The Fidelius Charm involves what is called a Specific Oath. A Fidelius Charm is charm which is used to conceal a secret inside a living soul. It is most often used when someone needs to go into hiding for one reason or another. If the Secret-Keeper refuses to speak, no one can find the person or persons in hiding, not if they're looking straight at them. The Fidelius Charm, then, is cast for one specific purpose and is a Specific Oath. There are about two dozen Specific Oaths, most of them charms, some of them medical treatments. The vaccine that those of you who grew up in wizarding families had for Nathan's Disease is a Specific Oath. As I said before, the Ultimate Oath Variation is a Specific Oath. Anyone have any idea about the third class of Loyalty Oaths?"
Now Hermione, to no one's surprise, volunteered. "Are they called General Oaths?"
Remus smiled. "You have the right idea. Five to Gryffindor. They're called Timeless Oaths. Timeless Oaths are the ones that can have very interesting social ramifications. They're almost always sworn between husbands and wives, but occasionally between platonic friends. They seldom work between siblings and virtually never between parents and children because there is a strong, deeply ingrained element of choice involved in this sort of oath. You may choose to be friends with your brothers and sisters, but you did not pick them out of a crowd or decide to become acquainted with them. They are all difficult and they all require both involved parties to be qualified witches or wizards, and fairly powerful ones at that.
"A Timeless Oath is, as the name suggests, timeless. Permanent. If you swear a Timeless Oath with someone, you are bound to him or her forever." Parvati and Lavender began to giggle. "Timeless Oaths are very romantic that way. That is why they can cause a great deal of trouble. How would you feel if you married someone and promised to spend the rest of your life with him or her, but he or she could not complete a Timeless Oath? Would you feel betrayed? How would you feel if you had two or three best friends, and they could swear the Oaths to each other but not to you?"
The members of the class had now stopped writing to stare at Lupin, but he simply picked up his lecture once more. "Timeless Oaths do not usually have a specific purpose because it is often hard to tell how they will affect the wizards or witches casting them. All Timeless Oaths involve an incantation that must be spoken by each wizard or witch in turn. Generally, the wand is placed over the heart of the wizard or witch not speaking the incantation, but sometimes it is placed on the forehead. When the incantations have both been spoken, the wands are brought together, and if the Oath was successful, they will react. Usually they will just become warm to the touch, but sometimes they will shoot sparks or glow.
"I'm going to name the six Timeless Oaths for you now, but you don't need to write them down. I'm giving you a pamphlet that lists them. That is your homework assignment for the day after tomorrow when Professor Ryan returns. You are to choose any two timeless oaths and compare and contrast them for her. I don't care how long the essay is. We just want you to make it as thorough as possible without using outside sources.
"The most common Timeless Oath is Perfidus Numquam. It is only used by married couples, and is a promise to remain faithful to the marriage.
"The platonic counterpart of Perfidus Numquam is Amicitia Aeternitas. It signifies eternal friendship.
"Tutelae Promissum is the promise of protection.
"Magnes is one with a more specific purpose. It allows the wizards or witches to find one another no matter where they are. It is believed that the Dark Lord adapted Magnes to summon his Death Eaters when he wishes to see them.
"Certus is the other specific Timeless Oath. It's actually a dueling spell that can be used when groups are fighting each other.
"The rarest and most difficult is Letum Simul. It is a promise that one will not die without the other. If those who have cast it are apart from each other when one dies, the image of the dead will appear to the living just before he or she collapses. If they are together when one develops a fatal physical problem, their auras will blend and both lives will be lost or both saved.
"I'm sorry I had to lecture you for so long. The material will not be as dry when you return to Professor Ryan, I assure you. You may go."
The class rose to leave, calling to Lupin that his lecture had not been at all dry and that he was in no way comparable to Professor Binns.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione were especially reluctant to leave the class. They had no desire to return to the Common Room with its windows overlooking the rain into which they were forbidden by word and spell to venture.
"Want to go to an empty classroom instead?" suggested Ron desperately.
"We aren't supposed to--" Hermione began, but Ron cut her off.
"We aren't supposed to leave the castle. We won't. You aren't on patrol duty until this evening, and Harry's not on at all today. There's no reason we shouldn't have a change."
Hermione sighed and acquiesced. It was hard to deny Ron something when he had just been released from the hospital wing after a Death Eater attack and when his brother had just been sent into hiding.
Their deserted classroom of choice was not on the same side of the castle as Gryffindor Tower and offered a slightly different view. Not having brought along a chess set or cards, they began work on their Defense Against the Dark Arts assignment much sooner than could have been expected under ordinary circumstances.
Ron finished his essay first, and sat staring at his completed parchment until Harry, and finally the overly thorough Hermione, were done with the assignment as well.
"What's so interesting?"
Ron gestured at the information Lupin had handed them during class. Hermione raised her eyebrows and she attempted to keep her mouth from dropping open in shock. "It had to happen sooner or later," said Ron.
"What's so interesting about it?" queried Hermione warily.
"Do you think we could do these? The three of us?"
"Not Perfidus Numquam," put in Harry with a smirk just before Hermione began to speak frantically.
"Ron, how can you even think about that? Didn't you hear what Professor Lupin said in class today? He even said it specifically-- How would you feel if you had two or three best friends, and they could swear the Oaths to each other but not to you? It's too dangerous! I know that you two are-- boys--"
"Thank you," interrupted Harry and Ron in chorus.
"and boys never want to think about these things, but we need to be friends. All of us. So many times, if it hadn't been all of us, all of us against everyone else-- we would have been dead!"
Harry raised his hands in an attempt to stop Hermione's speech before she worked herself into tears. He hated it when Hermione burst into tears for no good reason (he suspected that he would hate it if she cried for a good reason as well, but thus far when he had seen her in situations which would have justified crying she had not). "We know, Hermione," he said. "We were there."
She drew a deep breath. "I know. I'm sorry. But those spells can still be really dangerous. How well did you do your assignment? Did you do it like me or did you do it like Ron?" Ron and Hermione exchanged playfully dirty looks.
"They're only dangerous if you actually cast them and then actually use them. Trying can't hurt."
"It can hurt your feelings."
"If we try it and it doesn't work, we can blame it on us not being powerful enough yet, or on not saying the incantation right, or on not being old enough. You can't cast Amicitia Aeternitas until you're in your late twenties at least. Not usually even then." Hermione looked impressed. "Hey, I do my homework!"
Hermione mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like "Divination."
Harry and Ron looked at each other and grinned. "Thanks Hermione," said Ron. Then he rolled his eyes backwards into his head and, in his best imitation of Professor Trelawney, added "I see myself dying in a duel because the friend I cast Certus with broke his word and destroyed us both." He sighed melodramatically.
"It's not something to joke about," grumbled Hermione as she tried to hide her smile.
"Let's just try Magnes," suggested Harry while Hermione was still in a good mood. "The incantation is easy, and it's also easy to justify it if it doesn't work. It's not that insulting if you don't want someone to find you anytime, anywhere."
"No, let's go all the way. Let's try Letum Simul! Wouldn't it be impressive if we could do it?"
"Wouldn't it be DANGEROUS?" argued Hermione, angered once more.
"It would," Harry admitted. "I would never cast Letum Simul with anyone. Especially not you." Ron flushed and looked insulted, and Harry hastened on before Ron had the opportunity to leave the room and stop speaking to Harry. "Ron, Voldemort--" Ron winced at the name "is trying to kill me. He almost succeeds on a regular basis. I'm not taking you with me, Ron. I'm not taking Hermione or anyone else, either. I thought about just not being friends with you so you wouldn't be targets, but neither one of you liked that idea. You have to meet me partway on this."
Ron forcefully adjusted his facial expression and drew a breath. "All right. Magnes, then."
"Ron!" exclaimed Hermione. "You can't just--" she broke off, disgusted. "Fine, I guess you can."
"You don't want to try it?" asked Harry, eager to do anything that would change the topic of conversation from his probable impending death.
"No," she said firmly.
"Right, then. Reditu tuo delector?"
"The wand has to be on my forehead for this one," added Ron. "And you emphasize every other syllable."
"If you put half as much time into your actual work--" Hermione began, but she stopped herself when it became evident that both Harry and Ron were concentrating very hard on the spell.
"Reditu tuo delector," said Harry solemnly, the tip of his wand resting on Ron's forehead.
"Reditu tuo delector," Ron repeated when they had switched positions. Then, with such earnestness as might ordinarily have been comical, they raised their eyes to one another and brought their wands together, and when willow touched holly, both boys' faces lit up with astonishment.
"It didn't-- you didn't-- not on your first try," stammered Hermione.
"It did. We did. On our first try," answered Ron with wonder. "This isn't so hard," he added with a cocky grin.
"Professor Lupin said the wizards have to be qualified."
"You're also supposed to be qualified to become an Animagus," Harry pointed out, thinking of what his father had done during his fifth year at Hogwarts. "Want to try now, Hermione? It can't hurt anything."
"I don't think you even understand what you just did," she declared uneasily. "You'll be able to find each other for the rest of your lives."
"You're right," said Ron. "Tonight, before I go to sleep, I'll cast the spell, and I'll be able to figure out that Harry is" he twirled his wand dramatically "in the bed right next to mine!"
"And maybe tomorrow, when we're in Transfiguration--" Harry began before he and Ron both dissolved into laughter.
"Maybe we should agree only to use it in emergencies," said Ron after a few moments of laughing.
Harry agreed readily. "Still don't want to try, Hermione?"
"Scared?" tutted Ron. "Not very Gryffindor-like. Not very prefectorial, either. What will all the little first years think when they find out that the big strong prefect who's supposed to be protecting them is afraid of Magnes?"
"They don't know what Magnes is," said Hermione grouchily. "I didn't before today."
"Is that why you're in a bad mood?" wondered Ron.
"No. It was very interesting."
"Then why--"
"I'm NOT in a bad mood. Here, if it'll make you happy-- Harry, look at me."
Harry had no intention of not doing as Hermione asked. She pulled her wand and placed it against his scar. "Reditu tuo delector," she said with what sounded to Harry like better pronunciation than either he or Ron had used.
"Reditu tuo delector," Harry reciprocated, and he and Hermione brought their wands together. To Harry's surprise, he felt none of the warmth he had felt just moments earlier when his wand had touched Ron's. He shook his head. "It felt the same up until now."
"Did you say it wrong?" asked Ron.
"One of us must have," agreed Harry. "You two try it." Ron and Hermione tried and failed.
"Like I said, it was a bad idea," said Hermione, looking at her wand, her books, and everything but Ron and Harry.
"It's all right, we can try aga--" Harry began, but Hermione cut him off.
"Don't make any more excuses. It's-- oh-- look!"
Harry and Ron looked. Sliding casually into the classroom was a long, brown-colored snake. It raised its head from the ground and looked directly at Harry.
"Do you know me?" asked Harry, not needing to look at Ron and Hermione to figure out that he was no longer speaking English.
*Yes, I know you.*
"What do you know about me?"
*You can speak to me.*
"Were you sent here to find me?"
"Were you sent here?"
*Yes. By the Other.*
"What did he tell you to do?"
"HARRY! CAN YOU EVEN HEAR US?" Harry's body jerked as he became aware that Ron had grabbed him by the shoulders and was shaking him.
"Ron, don't be daft, of course I can hear you."
Although slightly annoyed, Harry gathered his concentration. "Can you understand me now?"
"Yes." Ron sounded relieved, and he held onto Harry's shoulders for a beat longer than was strictly necessary.
"You've seen me talk to snakes before."
"Yeah, but . . . ." Ron seemed to be searching for an appropriate word.
"It was almost like you went into a trance this time," Hermione said for him.
"A trance?"
"A trance. Like you didn't know we were even here. What did you say?"
"I was just asking what it was doing here."
"What's a snake like you doing in a classroom like this?"
"Something like that."
"Did it tell you anything?"
"That Volde-- You-Know-Who sent it, but not for a special reason."
Hermione resolutely began to gather her belongings. "We have to tell Dumbledore. And we have to get rid of the snake." She cast a stunning spell that would last until someone came in to collect the frozen animal.
Then she, Ron, and Harry sought out the too well-known path to Dumbledore's office.
Okay, plot points for those of you who are reading this without the prequels:
Sirius has been officially declared innocent.
Sirius has legal custody of Harry.
Remus sometimes teaches at Hogwarts because the official Defense Against the Dark Arts professor (Cynthia "plot device" Ryan) is an active auror who is often called upon to perform other duties.
Harry had a difficult time dealing with Cedric's death but seems to be over it.
Harry and Hermione are both prefects.
A snake in the London Zoo informed Harry "I knew when I saw you that I had seen you before, not I, but another snake. All snakes are one, in a certain way."
Death Eaters captured the Patil Twins, put Padma under the Imperius Curse, and used her to put an outlet of sorts in the Gryffindor dormitory while posing as Parvati.
Remus was in charge of the Gryffindor fifth-years at the time of the Patils' kidnapping. His behavior was very heroic and they are all even more fond of him than they had been previously.
Ron kissed Hermione. They both started laughing. All romantic tension between them was thus summarily deflated.
Percy briefly posed as a Death Eater. He partially deflected an attack on Hogwarts before revealing himself by saving Ron, who wandered into a meeting. He is now in hiding.
Severus is once again trusted by Voldemort, thanks to his ability to predict Percy's behavior.
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Finished A Game of Thrones. Really liked it, despite having known what was going to happen, having seen the first series.
I've decided to take a little break before reading A Clash of Kings, so I'm currently reading The Reader by Bernhard Schlink. To be honest I'm finding it slightly boring, and hope it will pick up, but I'm half way through so don't know what the chances of that are.
I also ordered Stephen King's The Stand in the post, and am actually quite excited to read that - all I've heard are good things about it.


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Mobile Moves To The Masses
Smartphones and tablets, of course, couldn't be considered a major mobile traffic driver if users weren't flocking to them in droves.
Cisco estimates there will be 5.2 billion mobile users by 2017, up from the 4.3 billion users in 2012. Also by 2017, there will be more than 10 billion mobile devices being used around the globe, compared to the 7 billion devices that were in circulation last year. Average smartphone usage already grew 81 percent in 2012 alone.
As smartphone and tablet adoption soars, Cisco expects average global mobile network speeds will increase 7-fold from 0.5 Mbps in 2012 to 3.9 Mbps in 2017. What's more, mobile video in five years will represent 66 percent of all global mobile data traffic -- up more than 50 percent since last year.


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The Red Sox named Brian Butterfield their third base coach on Oct. 30. But only in the last few days has he truly felt like part of the team.
Butterfield took the job with the caveat that he still hoped to be selected as the manager of the Toronto Blue Jays. It was something he made sure Sox general manager Ben Cherington and manager John Farrell understood.
"I was committed to the Red Sox, but it was a tough time for me because I wasn't 100 percent committed," Butterfield said Friday in his first interview since joining the Sox. "I didn't have both feet in."
Butterfield, who spent 11 years coaching in Toronto, badly wanted to manage the Blue Jays and believed he had a chance at the job. But the team wanted a manager with experience and went with John Gibbons on Tuesday.
"I was disappointed," Butterfield said. "It was kind of a letdown. It was something I took very seriously. I loved that city, the people there, and the team."
Farrell understood and told Butterfield to take a few days.
"John was great; he knew how I felt," Butterfield said. "I had been with Toronto for a long time. I had to let it soak in and turn the page."
A conversation with his mother over Thanksgiving dinner helped. Patricia Butterfield retold some family stories about the times Brian would demand to stay in front of the television to see Dick Radatz close out a game for the Sox and the trips they would take from their home in Orono, Maine, to Fenway Park.
"Carl Yastrzemski, Reggie Smith, Rico Petrocelli, I loved all those players," Butterfield said on Friday. "Growing up in New England, it was part of who I was."
Butterfield is eager to get to spring training. Red Sox players will find that no coach is more committed to their success than Butterfield.
The 54-year-old is one of the best at what he does. Along with coaching third base and working with the infielders, Butterfield believes that coaches have the duty to make sure players handle themselves professionally on and off the field.
His message is one the last-place Red Sox need to hear.
"All coaches could want to stand for such a thing as respect for the game and integrity," Butterfield said. "Players and coaches have a great responsibility beyond hitting a home run or striking somebody out.
"How you respond to a manager or the umpires or the clubhouse attendants, respect encompasses an awful lot. As a coach, we have to stand for that and instill it in the players."
With a résumé that includes 34 years in professional baseball, the last 16 in the majors, Butterfield has the credentials to back up his personality.
"I've gotten to know some of their players. For me, as a coach you want your infielders to do things in a certain way. Dustin Pedroia and Derek Jeter are benchmarks for infielders in baseball," Butterfield said.
"Dustin, the way he goes about his work, the way he competes and carries the torch and reacts to game situations, you can tell the Red Sox are his top priority. I'm so anxious to work with him."
As a third base coach, Butterfield talks to opposing third basemen often. He is impressed with what he has learned about Will Middlebrooks.
"He had nothing but glowing praise of Kevin Youkilis and Youkilis had nothing but praise for Will as a player and a person, saying that he is the future," Butterfield said. "It's going to be fun getting to know him."
Butterfield also offered a scouting report on shortstop Jose Iglesias.
"I made it a point to go watch him take infield. He certainly has all the prerequisites," Butterfield said. "Great feet, makes plays easily. There's no panic in his hands. He's going to take away some hits."
After two seasons with Farrell in Toronto, Butterfield believes the Red Sox made a smart choice as manager. Farrell, he said, has improved on the job.
"He's very organized, very detailed, and he gets input from all his people," Butterfield said. "He's open-minded, and to me he's gotten better as a manager. It's a difficult chair to sit in."
The Blue Jays, like the Red Sox, fell out contention because of injuries.
"It just happens, and the game goes in cycles," Butterfield said. "There are some good things in place in Boston. It's an unbelievable place to play and a demanding place to play and coach. That is something I can't wait to experience."
Butterfield hasn't lost his desire to manage. But he called it an offseason aspiration.
"Once I step on Florida soil [for spring training], it's out of my mind," he said. "I want to be the best coach I can be and give my best effort. I love coaching base running, coaching third, and working with the infielders. Thoughts of being a manager cease and desist."
Butterfield, who still lives in Maine, grew up loving baseball and football. His father, the late Jack Butterfield, was the baseball coach at the University of Maine and an assistant football coach. Jim Butterfield, Brian's uncle, coached football at Ithaca College from 1967-94 and won three NCAA Division 3 titles.
Butterfield is one of the most passionate and knowledgeable Patriots fans you will ever meet. His friends have joked that he took the Red Sox job just to be closer to Tom Brady and Bill Belichick.
"That's not 100 percent true," Butterfield said, laughing. "But we had a lot of fun watching that Jets game [Thursday] night."
. . .
Greg Colbrunn will interview for the Red Sox hitting coach position on Saturday, Farrell said on WEEI. That could make five candidates who are interviewed. The Sox could have this wrapped by next week. They didn't name a coaching staff until Dec. 23 last year.Peter Abraham can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.com. Follow him on Twitter @PeteAbe.