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The story I'm about to tell is the worst case of leaky abstraction that I've encountered and had to resolve. Actually, it's the most profound example that I know of. Profound here is used in a negative sense, of course. This isn't the performance issues Joel brings as examples to leaky abstraction. Nor is it a case of getting a network exception while working with files, because the folder is now mapped to a network drive. Nor a case of getting out-of-disk-space error while writing to a file-backed memory block. This is a case of frustration and a very hard-to-catch defect. A case of a project that came too close to failing altogether, had we not figured it out in time.
Our flagship project worked with 3rd party servers which for technical reasons had to be installed on the same machine as our product. This was an obvious shortcoming and had to change. The requirements came in and we were asked to move the interfaces with all 3rd party servers into lightweight distributed processes. These new processes were dubbed Child processes, while the central process, well, Central. A Child would run on a different machine on the network, communicating with the Central process to get commands, execute them and return the results.
The design was straightforward: all processes would be running as services listening on some configurable port. The commands were simple application-level message objects, each with its own type, serialized on the wire. The operations were synchronous and we needn't progress updates or heartbeats. We left the network design synchronous as well, for simplicity.
The developer who was assigned the communication-layer had background in web-services and proposed to use standard HTTP protocol. We thought about it and declared that while it would have some small overhead, the simplicity of reusing some library would be a plus. After all, HTTP has data recovery and is a standard protocol. And if we really cared about overhead, we'd use UDP which has no duplicate detection, data recovery or even ordered packet transmission. Plus, the developer who'd work on this feature was comfortable with HTTP. So why not?
As it turns out, HTTP was the single worst decision made on this particular project.
Since we were now transmitting potentially sensitive data, the requirements were amended to include data encryption to protect our customers' data from network sniffers. We used a standard asymmetric encryption for extra security. This meant that we had to generate a pair of public and private keys each time we connected. We devised a protocol to communicate the key the Child must have using a symmetric encryption algorithm. We were confident this was secure enough for our needs and it wasn't overly complicated to implement.
The project was complete when I took the product for a final set of developer white-box testing. This is something I learned to do before shipping any product, as I do have the responsibility of designing the features, I also feel responsible for looking under the hood in case there is some potential mechanical or technical issue. Much like your car mechanic would do before you go on an off-road trip.
That's when things started to fall apart. All worked fine, except every now and then I'd get errors and the Child would disconnect. Inspecting the logs showed data-encryption exceptions. The deciphering function was failing. Every single developer who run the code verified that it worked fine without any problems whatsoever. I asked them to pay attention to this issue. They came back saying all was perfectly fine. It was only on my machine!
Mind you, I learned not to blame before I eliminate every possible culprit. And the prime suspect is, always, a bug. A developer error. So I started sniffing around. Visiting the design back and forth. Nothing made sense of the issue. The code works, almost all the time. Then it fails. Reconnect again, and it works fine… until it fails again.
Troubleshooting this issue wasn't fun, precisely because it wasn't fruitful. No amount of debugging helped, or, in fact, could ever help. The puzzle had to be solved by reason. Experimentation showed as much as I had already gathered from the logs. Still, I tried different scenarios. One thing was for sure, you couldn't tell when it'll fail next.
The Leak
Remember that HTTP is a connectionless protocol. That is, it's designed to communicate a single request and its response and disconnect. This is the typical scenario. It holds no connections and no states, therefore, it has no session. On the web, sessions are realized by the HTTP server. An HTTP server would typically create some unique key upon login or first-request missing a key, and it would track all subsequent requests by getting the said key either in the URL or using cookies. In any event, even though a web-service may have support for sessions, the underlying protocol is still connectionless and stateless.
To improve performance, an afterthought of reusing connections was added. This is typically called Keep-Alive. The idea is that a flag is added to the HTTP header which tells the server not to close the connection immediately after responding to the request, anticipating further requests. This is reasonable, as a web-page typically loads multiple images and embedded items from the same server. The client and server supporting Keep-Alive reuse the same connection for several requests, until one of them closes the connection. What is most important in this scenario is that if either party doesn't respect this hint, nothing would break. In fact, nothing would work any different, except, of course, for the extra connections and disconnections that would occur for each request.
Since the implementor of this feature was a savvy web developer, he always had this flag set. And so, as long as the connection wasn't interrupted, or indeed, the underlying library we were using didn't decide to close the connection on whim, all was well and we had no problems. However, when a new request went with a new connection, rather than an existing one, the Child's server would accept a new socket, on a new port, rather than the previously open socket. This is what was happening on my test environment. Perhaps it was the fact that I was testing across VM images that triggered the disconnections. Anyway, this newly opened socket on the Child has no encryption details associated with it. It's a brand-new connection. It should expect encryption key exchange. But due to implementation details, the request would have an 'encrypted' flag set and the Child wouldn't mind that we negotiated no cryptographic keys. It'd go ahead and try to decipher the request, only, it couldn't. Resulting in the logged encryption exception followed by disconnection.
Post Mortem
Once the issue was figured out, the solution was simple, albeit costly. The HTTP abstraction had leaked an ugly property that we had assumed abstracted away. At design time, we couldn't care what protocol we used to carry our bits. Encryption was added almost as an afterthought. True that encryption does require a state. However looking at our code, the socket-level connection was abstracted by layers and layers of library code. In fact, all we had was a single static function which took a URL string for a request. We had serialized and encoded the request message in base-64 and appended to the URL, which contained the server hostname/ip and port; standard web request, really.
On the communication layer, we had this single URL construction and the request call. On the data layer, we had the encryption, serialization and data manipulation logic. On the application layer, well, there were no network details whatsoever. Most of the previous code which worked locally had remained the same, with the implementation changed to interface the new network layer. So in a sense the code evolved and adapted to its final form and it wasn't anywhere near apparent that we had leaked a major problem into our code.
In hindsight, we should've taken matters into our hands and implement a session-based protocol directly. This would make sense because we'd be in complete control of all network matters. For one, with HTTP we couldn't change the sockets to use async logic, nor could we change the buffer sizes and timeouts. Perhaps we didn't need to, but considering the gigabytes/hour we expected to transfer, sooner or later we'd have to optimize and tune the system for performance. But, the developer assigned was inexperienced and we couldn't afford the time overhead. Personally, I feared things would get too complicated for the assigned developer to handle. I let him pick the protocol he was most comfortable with. And that's the real danger of leaky abstraction; everyone is tricked, including the experienced.
Indeed, we ended up rewriting the communication layer. First the HTTP code was replaced with plain sockets using TCP/IP. Next, sessions were added, such that disconnections were recoverable. That is, the data layer didn't care whether communication was interrupted or not. We weren't going to rely on the fact that we controlled the sockets. Disconnections were made irrelevant by design. And finally, our protocol required a strict sequence of initialization and handshake that insured correct state. Once the code was working as expected, we changed the sockets to use async interface for maximum performance.
Overall, we spent an extra 2 man/months and, as a result, the data+communication layer was sped up several times over. Still, this was one hell of a case of leaky abstraction.
Further Reading:
- The Law of Leaky Abstractions [joelonsoftware.com]
- Leaky Abstractions and the Last Responsible Moment for Design [codebetter.com]
- Leaky Abstraction [wikipedia.org]
- Leaky Abstraction [c2.com]
Many are asking why not use SSL? The answer is because HTTP was the wrong choice in the first place.
We weren't building a web-service. This was a backend server communicating with the main product. We didn't want to limit the protocol, features or extendability by the choice of communication details. SSL would resolve the encryption issue, but we'd have had to implement an HTTPS server. In addition, whatever application protocol we would eventually realize, it had to be connectionless. The encryption layer simply uncovered this design implication that we had overlooked, hence the leak in the communication protocol abstraction. At that point we didn't have any control messages nor did we have requests that needed states, later we added both. In fact, we added a command to iterate over a large set of data, returning one item at a time. HTTP/S would've made this harder to implement, as the state would have had to be sent with each request. Control messages and heartbeats would've been pointless.
In short, HTTP gave us very little and the connectionless nature caused as a lot of trouble. We got rid of both. We exchanged a wrong solution with the right one, hardly reinventing the wheel, if you ask me.


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Next: Debugging, Previous: Functions and Scripts, Up: Top [Contents][Index]
Octave includes several functions for printing error and warning messages. When you write functions that need to take special action when they encounter abnormal conditions, you should print the error messages using the functions described in this chapter.
Since many of Octave's functions use these functions, it is also useful to understand them, so that errors and warnings can be handled.
• Handling Errors: | ||
• Handling Warnings: |

subset: commoncrawl


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Scrap Metal Pickup in Cason, TX
Scrap metal consists of a wide variety of recyclable materials. Although a lot most people might associate the reference to 'scrap metal' as pieces of superfluous or worn metal parts which has no particular value, the scrap industry is very buoyant in a number of countries across the world.
Metal is perfect material for recycling and offers a wide-range of advantages and benefits. scrap metal pickup in Cason, TX. scrap metal pickup in Cason, TX. Benefits to recycling the different types of metals include a much lower need to carry out mining, reduces the production cost for the manufacturers of metal, and also helps with supplying high-quality metal items across the world. Unlike some of the other popular recyclable materials, such as plastic and paper, metal is one material source that will not degrade even after going through the recycling process several times.
A typical scrap yard might well be willing to accept all the types of metals which are then proceeded and passed on to manufacture a new range of materials and products. Some metal yards might accept only a particular type of metal, while other yards may be more willing to take both the non-ferrous and ferrous types of metals.
Recyclable materials of this nature are often split into two categorizes, namely the non-ferrous and ferrous metals -
Non-ferrous - the scrap metals featured in non-ferrous are all metals other than iron and steel. Included in this category is lead, zinc, brass, chromium, nickel, copper, titanium, aluminum (including cans and foil), and copper. Tons of non-ferrous scrap is recovered each year and recycled by the processors, which is then passed on to fabricators, smelters, foundries, ingot makers, and similar industries.
Ferrous - steel and iron based scrap metals are categorized as the ferrous metals, and might include scrap from ships, household appliances, railroad tracks, steel beams, food packaging, and similar other containers.
Out of the two types of metals, non-ferrous scrap is often seen as more financially worthy. Non-ferrous scrap metal is often rated in dollars per pounds, whereas the ferrous scrap (steel and iron) is typically seen as dollars per ton.
If you have metals to scrap the best thing to do is to contact a local scrap yard, either by phone or searching on a company's website, and finding out what types of materials are accepted, which can of course avoid a potentially wasted trip. It is especially important to call ahead if you have a large load of metal that you wish to dispose of.


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Pattern: YF-Seashell
Color: Seashell
Width: 54″
Weight: 2 1/2 lbs. per yard
Construction: Expanded weight vinyl
Backing: 1/4″ foam backed
$34.95 Total
per Yard
Seashell color foam backed vinyl material with 1/4″ foam backed expanded weight vinyl fabric. The foam backed vinyl fabric is suitable for headliners, pleating and other vinyl fabric upholstery projects. Our foam backed vinyl fabric comes 54" wide, marine treated and fade resistant for marine vinyl and outdoor vinyl uses. Buy marine grade foam backed vinyl fabric by the yard.


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Thursday, July 31st, 2008 at 9pm Eastern Time
Join us tonight for the long awaited return of The Doctor Anonymous Show number 42. Our guest will be Dr. Theresa Chan from the blog called Rural Doctoring. She is a Family Physician by training who is practicing as a hospitalist in California. See the video post above.
If you do listen live, you can even take part in the chat room. It is truly "The show within the show." You can even call in and say hello. A great opportunity to interact with medbloggers you've only read about. And, you will be able to see me on the live webcam during the show! See you tonight!
For first time Blog Talk Radio listeners:
*Although it is not required to listen to the show, I encourage you to register on the BlogTalkRadio site prior to the show. I think it will make the process easier.
*To get to my show site, click here. As show time gets closer, keep hitting "refresh" on your browser until you see the "Click to Listen" button. Then, of course, press the "Click to Listen" button.
*You can also participate in the live chat room before, during, and after the show. Look for the "Chat Available" button in the upper right hand corner of the page. If you are registered with the BTR site, your registered name and picture will appear in the chat room.
*You can also call into the show. The number is on my show site. I'll be taking calls beginning at around the bottom of the hour. There is also a "Click To Talk" feature where you do not need a phone to call into the show - only a microphone headset. Hope these tips are helpful!


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Growing up, my parents didn't make a fuss about their own birthdays, or Mother's Day, or Father's Day (altho each parent would be really good about helping us choose gifts for the other spouse: I've got three weeks of diary entries, aged 10, agonising over whether the nightgown and bathrobe set we'd chosen with my dad for my mother would go over big on Mother's Day, and the huge relief that 'she seemed to really like it.')
And Mr. Dot's parents are the same. So I had totally forgot til today that it was Father's Day, here, and in the States as well.
Where do I begin about my father. He looked like a cross between Cary Grant and Paul McCartney, had the wit and intelligence and charm of George Clooney and Paul Newman, who he came to resemble more in later years. Oh and very much the courtesy and kindness of Michael Palin.
In these shots, with his grandson (my nephew) Anders, he's wearing a jacket that is unlike his style. I don't remember him wearing red, his colours, like mine, were usually neutral, or shades of blue or turquoise (I've got a lot of his clothes: a great rust suede classic fifties bomber jacket, for example).
His style was pretty classic, but frankly, he'd look good in a plastic bag. He was physically fit, active, not at all obsessed about his appearance, not at all vain, but his hair was always perfectly parted, and neatly combed. Which is ironic that in these shots I took of them, it was mussed: probably by the wind, or playing with Anders. He was very much a hands on dad, an avid swimmer, tennis player, gardener (he was the original 'organic gardener', importing bugs in boxes from Japan that he explained were 'good bugs' who ate the 'bad bugs' in lieu of pesticides - everything he did, I'm realising now, was ahead of his time), enthusiastic amateur cook (he'd made these massive projects, like saving up stale bread to make bread pudding), a gifted teacher, professor, author, community leader, and he taught me so much, simply by being there to listen and support me. Every time life bumped me around a bit, he'd ask what was the 'learning experience'.
My father left this world on September 14th, 2003, but he has never left our family. He is a daily presence in our lives. And I know he hasn't left the countless friends he made along the way: he's just one of those magic people that touches everyone he meets. And I know that he is watching over me, and my sister and brother and of course, my mother, because when I did a search for these photos above, somehow an image by someone I do not know, with a file name that is just a series of numbers, appeared on my laptop:
The Buddhists believe we come back in human form over and over until we get it right. My last words to my father, who loved flying and wanted to be a pilot in World War Two, but who was too young, was to please come back and visit us again, as a bird. I see him all the time: he seems to be everywhere, watching over us.
Every time I see a father and daughter with that magic bond, I feel more sure than ever that whatever that bond is, it transcends our lives on this earth.
Happy Father's Day, dear Dad, and thank you.


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This piece is composed entirely of images from the six Star Wars films and is a tribute to the saga's central mythology. For a more critical and analytical piece on the movies, please visit my Notes on the Star Wars Saga, which has also been posted this morning.
This is a Top Post. To see other highlights of The Dancing Image, visit the other Top Posts.


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GoldenLane Studio Turns To iPi Motion Capture For "Five Nights At Freddy's" YouTube Series
Ukraine-Based Production Studio Relies On Markerless Motion Capture Solution For Character Animation; Video Series Attracts Millions Of Views
MOSCOW, RUSSIA – What began as an indie mobile game in 2014, Five Nights At Freddy's has grown into a multimedia franchise with multiple games, novel adaptations and even a feature film in the works. There is also an array of fan-inspired videos – none more popular than those produced by the Kiev, Ukraine-based GoldenLane Studio. Led by Co-Founder Roman Maltsev (along with Alex Portman and Oleg Smolyaninov), the studio's "Five Nights At Freddy's" YouTube video series relies on the iPi Soft markerless iPi Motion Capture software solution for reliable character animation. The series continues to be viewed by millions, including an astounding 25 million that watched the initial trailer.
Maltsev noted that among the key benefits of using iPi Motion Capture (in conjunction with a Windows PC running on an Intel Core i7 8700K processor and NVIDIA GTX 1080Ti graphics card) is not having to rely on expensive green-screens and motion capture suits, and that animations can be exported into either SFM (Source Filmmaker's proprietary format) or the more universal DMX format, to ensure a quick post production workflow.
Ideal For Creative Studios:
The motion capture tracking and design process begins at GoldenLane with a rough pre-visualization (previs), without animation and lighting. All characters are first created in T-pose, a standard default shape for humanoid game model content creation, to understand where action is going to take place, character placement, etc. Following, iPi Motion Capture is used to record and track motion to the previs scenes and then transfer to each character.
"iPi Motion Capture is ideal for small, creative studios like ours as it helps to simplify and significantly speed up production," Maltsev says, who serves as the sole actor in his videos, often performing multiple parts. "It's also a lot of fun for me to get to play the hero in my own movies."
Although Maltsev is currently the only actor featured in the video production, should that change, the capabilities in iPi Motion Capture (Pro version) provide tracking features of up to three multiple actors at the same time without the need for manual sync.
Complex Kiss:
One particularly challenging scene for Maltsev was playing two characters named Zoe and Ellis that kiss. "I recorded the kiss using the iPi Recorder independently for each character, as a single-actor motion," he recalls. "To accomplish this, I had to stand in the center of the room twice, hug the air and pretend to kiss someone. After that I synced motions manually inside Source Filmmaker. This seemingly simple act proved the most complex, and also was pretty amusing."
The "Five Nights At Freddy's" mobile game series is centered on the story of a fictional restaurant named Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, a pastiche of restaurants like Chuck E. Cheese's. The game involves the player working as a nighttime security guard who must use several tools, most notably security cameras, to survive the night shift against animatronic characters that become homicidal after-hours.
350K Subscribers:
GoldenLane borrows from the basic premise of the original Freddy's series, but introduces new characters, settings and scenarios, such as the HAZMAT team investigating the dilapidated state of the Freddy's restaurant; or the wandering traveler who is stalked by one of the animatronic characters.
According to Maltsev, the original characters he creates run the gamut from those that will appear only once, to more nuanced ones that will inevitably play important roles as the series develops.
"iPi Soft is a key content creation tool that helps to visually 'describe' a character through the use of motion," Maltsev says. "We develop characters with the aim to give each a unique style. How a person moves can be very revealing into who they are. A military person might be more sure-footed and stride confidently into extreme situations, whereas a civilian might move more cautiously and awkwardly."
Maltsev's passion for the project and level he puts into his characters and plotlines has clearly resonated with fans as evidenced by millions of views and 350,000-plus subscribers on YouTube. The popularity of the series has also spurred donations via the crowd-funding site Patreon.com, enabling Maltsev and his GoldenLane partners to work solely on creating content for YouTube.
For Michael Nikonov, Founder and Chief Technology Officer at iPi Soft, the company remains committed to motion tracking software development that delivers exceptional processing speed optimization and tracking accuracy.
"We're pleased that recent enhancements to iPi Motion Capture are providing indie filmmakers, like Maltsev, with the near real-time feedback capabilities they need to quickly track results that can be transferred to 3D characters at the time of recording motions and improved animation export features for an optimized workflow."
"When I uploaded the first Freddy's trailer, there were no plans on developing it as a on-going series," Maltsev adds. "People clearly like our vision of this cinematic universe and when we saw how popular it had became, we decided to move ahead and will deliver new episodes later this year."
About iPi Soft:
Launched in 2008 by CEO and Chief Technology Architect Michael Nikonov, iPi Soft, LLC is the Moscow-based developer of iPi Motion Capture™, a markerless motion capture software tool that uses sophisticated image processing and computer vision algorithms to recognize and track the human body. The company's breakthrough technology digitizes the movement of a human skeleton, rendering it in expressive 3D characters for video games or computer generated films. For additional information, on iPi Soft, product pricing or a 30-day free trial please visit, http://www.ipisoft.com.
All trademarks contained herein are the property of their respective owners.
Media Contacts:
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Report Finds Top Banks Moving Away From Coal: Citigroup and Barclays seen as laggards
Kerul Dyer, firstname.lastname@example.com, +1 415-866-0005
Sean Sarah, firstname.lastname@example.com, +1 202 548-4589
Kerul Dyer, firstname.lastname@example.com, +1 415-866-0005
Sean Sarah, email@example.com, +1 202 548-4589
Today, Rainforest Action Network (RAN), Sierra Club and BankTrack released the fifth annual coal finance report card, "Extreme Investments, Extreme Consequences", which tracks the financiers of the worst-of-worst coal companies. The report shows that even as high-profile bankruptcies and costly environmental cleanup settlements illustrate the growing risks involved with lending to coal companies, U.S. banks provided $31 billion in financing for coal in 2013.
The report ranks Citigroup as the top financier of the U.S. coal-fired power plant fleet with $6.5 billion in loans and underwriting, and Barclays as the lead financier of mountaintop removal (MTR) coal mining. Meanwhile, a positive trend is also developing as Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase both committed to end their financial relationships with major MTR coal mining companies; both achieved the highest grade in the report card's five-year history. Goldman Sachs also received recognition for stepping away from the contentious Gateway Pacific Coal Export Terminal proposal in the ecologically sensitive Puget Sound. Citigroup, Bank of America, Morgan Stanley and PNC Financial all received lower grades than in 2013 for their continued financing of MTR.
"The gap is widening between banks who have cut ties with extreme coal companies and those still holding on to those risky relationships," said Ben Collins, Campaigner for Rainforest Action Network's Energy and Finance Program "Leading banks are beginning to plan for a carbon constrained future by moving away from companies that contaminate public water supplies, threaten our climate, and increasingly put shareholders at risk. At this point any company still banking on coal has its head in the sand."
This year, the report emphasizes the coal industry's impact on water contamination, including a case study investigating the ten lawsuits filed against Alpha Natural Resources for selenium pollution from MTR mines. Case studies in this year's report also expose coal industry bankruptcies and risky coal power plant transactions, including bankruptcies at MTR coal producers Patriot Coal and James River Coal, and sales of coal plants involving Dynegy in Illinois and Dominion Energy in Massachusetts.
"Mountaintop removal coal mining is destructive not only to the environment but to the economy and health of Appalachians as well," said Mark Kresowik, a policy analyst for the Beyond Coal Campaign at the Sierra Club. "Over the last year financially prohibitive fines and settlements like those against Arch Coal and Alpha Natural Resources show that MTR is an awful investment for the American banking industry."
The report urges banks to plan for a carbon-constrained future. Specific recommendations include phasing out lending to producers of mountaintop removal coal and coal-fired power, withholding financing for new coal export terminals and ensuring that coal financing deals commit banks and companies to emissions reductions.
The full report can be downloaded here.


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Done shopping? You can create a PDF of your cart for later or for your purchasing dept! Details at checkout.
The Meraki Enterprise Cloud Controller lets administrators build secure and scalable wireless networks quickly, easily, and at a lower cost. It provides centralized management, mobility, and security across multiple access points and deployment sites, and facilitates phenomenal real-time support. As the world's ?rst hosted wireless LAN controller, the Meraki Enterprise Cloud Controller eliminates the cost and complexity of traditional hardware-based wireless controllers.


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Posted at Lukaitis Photo are photos from the July 17, 2017, motocross event held at Raceway Park.
As always the images are in alphabetical order by the riders "last name" with all holeshot pictures labeled as "start."
All images on Lukaitis Photo are keyworded by riders last name and have been since we began in 2005. By searching the site, you will be able to find all images ever taken under that keyword.
Images are available for purchase in print or digital forms for as low as $1.99 each. Please purchase the digital download if you are planning on using the image on your social media accounts.
Check out all of the images at the following link- Raceway Park Images July 17, 2017


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Tag: Ben Affleck.
For starters, The Town didn't have a particularly good, or believable caste. That's especially true of the leading female star, Rebecca Hall, who played the role of the angelic-looking, coy and weepy princess/queen of a bank manager whose bank was robbed at gunpoint by Doug MacRay and his posse of masked bandits, her assistant manager brutally beaten within an inch of his life, and she ended up being blindfolded, abducted and taken as a hostage by the four thieves/thugs, since she was irresponsible enough to set off the bank alarm, when she shouldn't have.
The beginning of "The Town", with the aerial/on the ground shots of Charlestown and Boston, generally, as well as the opening bank heist, when Claire is forced to open the safe at gunpoint by Doug and his men, who are wearing skull masks and nun outfits, is interesting, but, as a film overall, it began to go downhill in a matter of minutes, at least for me.
Had a somewhat different-looking woman played Claire Keesey the bank manager with a bit more of an "edge", her character, especially when she and Doug MacRay got involved wholesale in a romance, might've been a bit more believable, but that didn't happen.
Not withstanding the fact that Ben Affleck was a little too pretty-boy and too unauthentic-looking to be really believable as a thieving, thuggish Charlestown Townie, there were many Grade B actors/actresses who were either inexperienced, or were thrown in at sort of the last minute, for extras.
I also might add that The Town was not a particularly accurate portrayal of Charlestown. It made Charlestown, and Boston, generally, too pretty and bucolic-looking, considering that the story takes place in a rough and run-down urban area. The Doug-Claire romance (which, imho, took away from The Town considerably), not only lacked real chemistry (The chemistry between Doug & Claire was quite paltry at best, and underdeveloped. They were like two young teens who were starting out on their first romance and were out on their first date.), but it was unbelievable and unrealistic in that, historically, the Town-Gown tensions here in Boston have always been (and still are) too acute for a romance between a Charlestown Townie and a yuppie bank manager realistically possible, especially a Townie who has an extensive criminal record of violent crimes, such as armed bank/armored truck robbery, assault, and, ultimately the committing of murder(s) on top of it all, like his friends/accomplices in crime.
Krista, the slatternly, drug-addicted, drunken sister of "Jem" Coughlin (Doug MacRay's best friend and housemate) who was a drug mule for "Fergie" the Florist who employed Doug MacRay and his men, and slept around town with too many men to make the father of her infant daughter, Shyne, clear, was played by Blake Lively, who, although having a small part in this film, might've been more believable as the messed-up Krista if she'd been more developed in this film, but who knows.
Owen Burke, the guy who played Desmond (Dez) Elden, was pretty much irrelevant through this film. He was a college-educated guy with a decent job and a decent salary, but he was stupid enough to pretty much go for the ride, except for being a little bit of a technical guy whenever Doug and his other men needed him. A case of exploitation, imho.
Jeremy Renner, who played the psychotic "Jem" was a little bit more believable than the rest of them, but he, too, was not a bargain.
I have to admit that I found myself liking and sympathizing with FBI Special Agent Adam Frawley (played by Mad Men's John Hamm), as well as SWAT and the rest of the law enforcement people who were out to bring Doug MacRay and his men down, stop their careers once and for all, and to have them tried for, hopefully charged with their crimes (i. e. armed bank/armored car robberies, assault, murder), and hopefully forced to serve long, hard terms in a Federal penitentiary.
The fact that Doug MacRay followed Claire around, knowing that Jem would probably really go off his rocker and do more harm than good, and then met Claire Keesey "by chance" at a Charlestown laundromat, where, stressed out by the robbery, bursts into tears and joshed by Doug, who tells her some dumb, unfunny jokes, is rather suspicious. This part of the film provides the message that it's okay to stalk somebody like a predator before moving in to really exploit them for their own selfish motives, which is what Doug MacRay did when he sort of secretly tailed Claire and then met her "by chance" in the laundromat, joshed with her to make her laugh, and then asks her out on a date.
The fact that Claire so readily accepted a date with a guy that she'd never even set eyes on, and, unbeknownst to her, had been sort of stalking her, and ends up in a fullscale romance with him, especially since he turned out to be the de-facto leader of the guys who's robbed her bank at gunpoint, abducted her and seriously injured her colleague just days before is rather suspicious, imho.
The car chase/car crash scenes, especially in Boston's North End and Fenway Park, as well as the shoot-outs, imho, were toally unrealistic, as was the setting the vans on fire. How could anybody have really survived those car chase/crashes and shoot-out scenes, not to mention the fire-settings? They couldn't really. There would've been dead, broken bodies all over the place, and there's no way that car-chase scenes/shoot-outs in the North End could've taken place without endangering nearby residents and businesses in the area. Sure, The Town's fiction, but it has to be somewhat believable, which it wasn't really.
What's also hard to believe is how the Boston Cops/FBI and SWAT could get by without making a total bust and having Doug MacRay and his men not only arrested but brought to trial, charged with, and forced to serve prison time.
Yet, it's also true that, while the identities of Doug MacRay and his posse of men were known, no evidence or proof could be obtained, partly due to Charlestown's existing Code of Silence, and partly because Doug and his men had a way of bleaching up the crime scenes to destroy all clothing fibers/DNA so that a match couldn't be obtained, and/or by setting fire to the getaway vans and the switch vans, all in order to destroy any evidence and to (hopefully) throw the FBI and other law enforcement people off their trail.
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Title: Wicked Steps
Author: Cory Cyr
Release Date: April 2016
Instead, I find myself in a war with his estranged son Kieran—my stepson and one of the most prolific painters, known for his erotic shock art. He's been plotting revenge against his father for years, and now that Daddy's dead, he's seized the opportunity.
Between the constant battles, heated exchanges, and threats of blackmail, I find myself inexplicitly drawn to this twenty-four-year old. He's beautiful, seductive, arrogant, and evil. Not only is he a gifted artist, but he's certainly inherited some of his father's more unsavory traits. He truly is a Wick.
But then he takes things too far and pushes me to my breaking point. I've had enough. In retaliation, I make a plan.
And I almost feel sorry for him—almost. I'm sure, even as a child, he was never read a single fairy tale. Poor bastard.
He has no idea how truly wicked a stepmother can be.


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In Hemphill, Kentucky, a region once sustained by coal mining, the landscape has dramatically changed. Today, locals face high unemployment, outmigration, and the opioid crisis. Amid these challenges, Mamaw Mentorship, a cogenerational program designed to foster...
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Cockerton helps people enrich the lives of foster care kids through innovative programs.
A news story about a 5-month-old boy living in foster care who'd been kidnapped right out of his crib – never to be found – shook Judy Cockerton.
She thought about all the other kids in foster care, the ones no one hears about until something awful happens.
Soon after, Cockerton called a family meeting with her husband, son and daughter, then 18 and 12 years old, and together they talked about how they could help. Within months, in 1999, they became a foster family to two sisters, ages 5 months and 17 months. Eventually they adopted the younger girl.
But Cockerton, in her late 40s then, still didn't think she'd done enough.
In learning more about the foster care system, she was particularly struck by the grim data compiled by the advocacy group Fostering Connections Resource Center: Each year, of the 30,000 foster kids in the United States who become adults without landing in permanent homes, one in four are incarcerated within two years of leaving the system; more than one-fifth become homeless; and fewer than 3 percent earn college degrees.
"It was so dismal," Cockerton recalls. "These children had social workers and professionals advocating for them. But I didn't see a lot of regular folks out there in the world saying these children placed in the public foster system are worthy of our investment and our attention."
She had a theory: "Americans think there are only two ways they can support a child placed in the public foster care system: You either step up and become a foster parent or adopt a child from foster care, and that's too much to ask of most people."
That realization inspired Cockerton to found the Treehouse Foundation. The foundation's goal: to create opportunities for people to support foster care kids even if they don't have the capacity to foster or adopt them. A former teacher who became owner of two Boston-area toy stores, Cockerton sold the successful chain in 2001 at age 51 to devote herself to the foundation full time.
Wanting to create a nurturing, permanent community for foster kids, Cockerton brought together the foundation, a private housing developer and a local children's services agency. Within three years they created multigenerational, mixed-income housing in Easthampton, Mass.
Named Treehouse at Easthampton Meadow, the housing community looks like a typical small-town cul-de-sac: retirees walking dogs, kids on bikes, families hanging out on their front porches. There are 60 rental homes – 12 townhouses for families who have adopted or are planning to adopt foster children and 48 cottages for people age 55 and older committed to supporting the families as "honorary grandparents."
A well-used community center provides space for everything from support groups and committee meetings to movie nights and potlucks. A team of on-site social workers, property managers and Treehouse Foundation staff provide an additional network of resources for the community.
The Treehouse Foundation has created innovative programming for the community with partners in the region, including arts organizations, social services agencies and even the local rowing club – all opportunities for everyday citizens to engage with and support some of the region's most vulnerable children.
Since its creation in 2006, Treehouse at Easthampton Meadow has been a permanent home for roughly 50 former foster kids.
Treehouse resident Carmen Hickley, 51, is a single mom with seven kids: three biological children and four kids adopted out of the foster care system. They range in age from 15 to 31.
"Everyone at Treehouse knows each other. We consider each other family," says Hickley, who has lived in the community for six years. "There's nothing that I wouldn't do for them or that they wouldn't do for me."
Holly Handfield, who is in her mid-60s and has lived in the community for four years, agrees: "Treehouse is like a small town where you know your neighbors and people help each other out, especially the kids. And now we're seeing these kids grow into such wonderful young adults."
In part because of such resident satisfaction, the Rudd Adoption Research Program at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst has identified Treehouse at Easthampton Meadow as an effective model. The school is researching the experiences of community members, aiming to devise a strategy to replicate the formula across the country. There is already a Treehouse-inspired community in Oregon and one in the works in Arizona – both projects of independent nonprofits.
While developing Treehouse at Easthampton Meadow, Cockerton started two other nonprofits to help foster children. Sibling Connections reunites brothers and sisters separated while in foster care. And the recently piloted Birdsong Farm will provide educational enrichment programs year-round to foster kids.
Through her nonprofit work, Cockerton has inspired more than 600 people to help foster children in Massachusetts. Volunteers serve as mentors, tutors and camp counselors. They teach foster kids how to read, plant gardens and ride horses. They take them for nature walks and trips to the playground. They enrich the lives of children who crave healthy connections to caring adults.
In 2010, Cockerton was awarded the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute's Angel in Adoption award by Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts. The award recognizes people and organizations that have made extraordinary contributions on behalf of children in need of homes.
That same year, Cockerton launched The Re-Envisioning Foster Care in America Initiative, to bring together diverse stakeholders in Massachusetts – from social workers to state officials, families to philanthropists – to think creatively about how to change the foster care system, in part by developing programs that communities across the country can replicate.
"Bringing together stakeholders from various public and private child welfare agencies … to rethink what it would take to serve these kids in a more humane, engaged and respectful way is a huge step in the right direction," says Sarah Greenblatt, senior associate director at the Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative, who consulted with Cockerton on the Treehouse Foundation's strategic plan. "Judy has a way of piquing people's interest enough to get them to the table. And she doesn't take no for an answer."
Cockerton is the first to admit that there are a lot of foster care experts who know more than she does. Her talent lies in bringing them together to work on new solutions to long-entrenched problems.
"Judy is an astoundingly effective collaborator," says Harold Grotevant, who leads the Rudd Adoption Research Program. "It's all because of Judy's leadership that this atmosphere and collaboration can thrive."
Cockerton sees herself continuing this work for years to come: "I want to be part of creating new norms in foster care that are so much more humane. It's wonderful to think that I have a shot at that."
2015 Update: Judy Cockerton received the North American Council on Adoptable Children's Citizen Activist Award. The Treehouse Foundation, which won the 2015 U.S. Health & Human Services/Children's Bureau Adoption Excellence Award, is now celebrating nine years of intergenerational living at Treehouse Easthampton, replicating its award-winning intergenerational Treehouse Community model in California, Massachusetts and New York. The foundation will host its 7th Annual Re-Envisioning Foster Care in America Conference at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst on May 13, 2016.


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Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Characters/Draco Malfoy
Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter - Character | |
Draco Malfoy | |
Gender | Male |
Hair color | White Blond |
Eye color | Grey/Silver |
Related Family | Lucius Malfoy, Narcissa (Black) Malfoy, Black family |
Loyalty | Lord Voldemort, Death Eaters |
editDraco Malfoy, a boy with platinum blond hair and a pale, pointed sneering face, is the only child of the wealthy Lucius Malfoy and his wife, Narcissa Black Malfoy. Draco attends Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and is in the same year as Harry Potter. Draco is a member of Slytherin House, and he is usually accompanied by Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle, and occasionally Pansy Parkinson, also Slytherins. Draco constantly boasts about being a pureblood wizard and his family's wealth and societal status.
- According to the author's web site, Draco was born on 5 June; this would make him almost two months older than Harry Potter. According to the Black family tree, he was born in 1981.
Draco's wand is hawthorn wood with a unicorn hair core.
Role in the Books
editDraco Malfoy is introduced to the story in Madam Malkin's Robes For All Occasions in Diagon Alley where he and Harry are being fitted for their school robes. Draco, who does not introduce himself, expresses hope that he will be sorted into Slytherin House. He asks Harry's name, but Hagrid's appearing at the window distracts them before Harry can answer. Harry is somewhat dismayed by Draco's assumption that pure-blood Wizarding families are superior, and asks Hagrid about this; Hagrid dismisses his concerns, saying Draco would feel less superior if he knew who Harry was.
Draco appears again, with his two cohorts, Crabbe and Goyle, in tow, aboard the Hogwarts Express. Draco expresses some surprise that this truly is Harry Potter, then makes an insulting remark about Ron Weasley, who is sharing Harry's compartment, and suggests that Harry would do well to ally himself with Draco rather than Ron. Harry responds that he has a pretty good idea about what people he wants to associate himself with, dismissing Draco. Draco wants the treats Harry bought, but when Goyle attempts to grab a cauldron cake, Ron's rat, Scabbers, attacks him.
Draco is Sorted into Slytherin House, as he expected, along with his two sidekicks. Harry and Ron find they have double Potions with Slytherin. Draco, Crabbe and Goyle snigger when Professor Snape, upon seeing Harry's name, remarks, "Our new... celebrity." Snape obviously favors Draco, while frequently criticizing everyone else in the class.
Except for Potions class, Harry has avoided Draco, but is dismayed that flying lessons are being shared with Slytherins. Harry is eager to learn how to fly, but he fears embarrassing himself while Draco is present. Ron speculates that Draco likely knows little more about flying than Harry, despite his bragging; Draco does have many flying stories to tell, though all seem to end with narrow escapes from Muggle helicopters.
At breakfast, before the first flying class, Neville receives a package containing a Remembrall. Draco, strutting by the table, grabs it, prompting Harry and Ron leap to their feet, hoping for an excuse to fight. Professor McGonagall's timely arrival interrupts them, and Draco returns the Remembrall to Neville.
At the flying lesson, Harry and Ron are delighted when Madam Hooch corrects how Draco grips his broomstick, saying he has been doing it wrong for years. When Draco jeers at Neville after his accident, Parvati Patil warns him to shut up, prompting Pansy Parkinson to snidely remark that Parvati is sweet on Neville. Disregarding Madam Hooch's order for all students to remain on the ground during her absence, Draco picks up Neville's Remembrall and takes off on his broom, intending to place the Remembrall high in a tree. Harry follows on his broom, discovering he is a natural flyer, and that Draco is far less brave without Crabbe and Goyle being nearby. Draco, cowed, throws the Remembrall high in the air. Harry dives and catches it before it smashes into the ground. He is caught by Professor McGonagall, and has to endure Draco's triumphant smirk as Harry is led away, believing he will be expelled.
Later, Draco challenges Harry to a Wizard's Duel at midnight. Ron immediately volunteers to be Harry's second, and Draco selects Crabbe as his. When Harry reaches the trophy room at the appointed time, however, it becomes apparent that Draco never intended to meet Harry. Instead, Filch arrives, hunting students. After evading Filch, Hermione surmises Draco tipped off Filch that Harry and the others would be there after hours.
Draco is dismayed that Harry escaped being expelled again. He is even more dismayed when, a week later, a long, thin package is delivered to Harry at breakfast. Draco determines that it must be a broom, and denounces him to Professor Flitwick. Flitwick agrees it is a broom, but says a first-year student – like Harry – can own one under special circumstances.
Draco, enraged by Gryffindor's win over Slytherin at Quidditch after Harry nearly swallows the Snitch, jokes that Gryffindor's next seeker will be a wide-mouth tree frog, while playing quidditch Draco says to Harry (with one of his most famous quotes) "Training for the ballet Potter?". When this insult fails to have any effect on Harry, Draco reverts to ridiculing Harry's home life and his plans to stay at the school over Christmas. Harry hardly minds - he actually expects this to be his best Christmas ever, particularly as the Weasley children (Ron and his siblings) are also staying at Hogwarts. When Draco makes disparaging remarks about Ron's poverty, Ron, enraged, dives at Draco and is penalized five House points by Snape, who has just arrived on the scene.
Shortly after Christmas, Neville topples through the entrance to Gryffindor Tower, his legs charmed to stick together. Draco jinxed him just outside the library, claiming he was looking for someone to practice on. Hermione undoes the jinx, and Harry encourages Neville to stand up against bullies like Draco.
Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle sit directly behind Ron and Neville at the Quidditch match against Hufflepuff. Within the first few minutes, Draco has goaded Ron to where he jumps Draco. Neville hesitates, then joins in. Ron, though getting a bloody nose, has given Draco a black eye.
Draco may be within earshot when Harry reads Hagrid's note saying that the dragon egg is hatching. Harry, Hermione, and Ron head to Hagrid's hut to watch. Inside, Hagrid sees someone peering in the window, and Harry recognizes the vanishing figure as Draco. Norbert, the baby dragon, later bites Ron's hand, sending Ron to the Hospital Wing, where Draco soon arrives, claiming he needs to borrow a book. Instead, he torments Ron by threatening to tell Madam Pomfrey what actually bit him. Charlie Weasley's letter specifying when Norbert is to be picked up is in the book that Draco borrows.
Later, Harry and Hermione, under the Invisibility Cloak, head to the tallest tower to deliver Norbert for the appointed pick up. Along the way, they spot Professor McGonagall penalizing Draco house points and giving him detention for being out after hours and fabricating nonsense about a dragon. That evening's events also land Harry, Hermione, and Neville in detention with Draco; a week before exams, Filch escorts the four to Hagrid, who explains they are going into the Forbidden Forest. Refusing to participate, Draco protests that it is servant stuff, though he sulkily acquiesces after Hagrid issues an ultimatum: either go or be expelled. Something has been slaying Unicorns, and the students' job is to help Hagrid track a wounded one and find what hunted it. Despite his initial trepidation, Draco, paired with Neville, becomes bored and scares Neville, who releases a distress signal. Hagrid, responding, re-shuffles the groups so that Draco is now paired with Harry, (also he is paired with Fang who is said to be a scaredy-cat) who presumably is less easily scared. When Harry and Draco find the dead unicorn, a dark shape is hovering over it, apparently lapping its blood; Draco, terrified, runs away.
Draco is seen again at the end-of-year feast, where Harry is sickened by watching Draco banging his goblet in a joyous celebration over Slytherin winning the House trophy. But Harry is suddenly cheered by Draco's stunned and horrified expression when, after a last-minute awarding of house points by Albus Dumbledore, Gryffindor is declared the winner.
Draco is seen at the beginning of the book with his father, Lucius Malfoy at Flourish and Blotts. Malfoy has joined the Slytherin Quidditch team as Seeker, though this is mostly due to his father, Lucius Malfoy, having donated expensive racing brooms to the Slytherin team. When Hermione states that all the members of the Gryffindor Quidditch team got in by pure talent, rather than having to buy their way in, Malfoy retaliates by calling Hermione a mudblood. Ron, then tries to curse him for having been so rude. However, most unfortunately, Ron's wand backfires, making him vomit slugs, much to Draco's and the other Slytherins' amusement.
Later Draco plays in a Quidditch Match against Gryffindor, he taunts Harry, but was so busy taunting Harry that he does not notice that the Golden Snitch was only inches away from his left ear. Harry takes advantage of this and gets the snitch before Draco notices, too late. His stupidity causes him to be reprimanded by the Slytherin Quidditch Captain, Marcus Flint. Later in the year, Draco attends a meeting of the short-lived Duelling Club and is paired with Harry. He conjures a snake that starts to attack Justin Finch-Fletchley and Draco witnesses Harry speaking parseltongue, the snake language.
When students start being attacked, Harry suspects that Draco might be Salazar Slytherin's heir, and therefore able to open the Chamber of Secrets to unleash the monster within that will kill Muggle-born students. Using the Polyjuice potion that Hermione secretly brewed, Harry and Ron transform themselves into Crabbe and Goyle in an effort to learn the Heir's true identity, only to discover that it is not Draco, nor does he know who it might be.
In the beginning of the book, he is seen doing impressions of dementors to try to scare Harry because he overheard Neville asking Harry if he fainted after a Dementor came on the Hogwarts Express. He also takes Care of Magical Creatures as one of his electives and is dismayed to learn that Rubeus Hagrid|Hagrid has been appointed the Care of Magical Creatures teacher. During the first Care of Magical Creatures lesson, when Hagrid shows the class a hippogriff named Buckbeak, Draco actually approaches Buckbeak cautiously and even strokes his beak. However, he makes the mistake of verbally insulting the bird and is attacked by Buckbeak.Later, Hermione slaps Draco in the face for laughing about Buckbeak's impending execution. Also, in one Quidditch Match, Draco and his goons dress up as dementors to try to sabotage Harry's performance, but are knocked down when Harry performs the Expecto Patronum|Patronus Charm. They are caught by a furious Minerva McGonagall|Professor McGonagall, who deducts 50 house points from Slytherin and gives them detention. Draco also taunts Harry about him wanting revenge against Sirius Black, who, unknown to Harry just yet, is his godfather and is somehow connected to James and Lily Potter's murders. Chances are high that Draco knows that Sirius is innocent because Sirius is the cousin of Narcissa Malfoy, Draco's mother.
Draco first appears at the Quidditch World Cup with his parents, and later sees the Trio taking refuge in the woods during the Death Eater attack. Draco's taunting comments and nonchalant manner indicates he knows who is behind the attack.
During the school year, he is turned into a ferret by Professor Alastor Moody for attempting to attack Harry when his back is turned. Draco is rescued by Professor McGonagall. He also passes spiteful information about Harry and his friends to the disreputable journalist, Rita Skeeter, who is also an unregistered Animagus. When Harry is unexpectedly chosen to be a champion in The Triwizard Tournament, Draco responds by making Potter Stinks Badges to humiliate and annoy Harry. He also lets Harry know that he doesn't think Harry will last ten minutes into the first task and tells him his father, Lucius Malfoy doesn't think he'll last five minutes into the task.
Draco attends the Yule Ball with Pansy Parkinson as his date. Pansy has apparently had a crush on Draco for some time, though his feelings for her are unknown.
After the second task in The Triwizard Tournament, in Potion's Class, he and his cronies toss a Witch Weekly newspaper to Hermione and after Snape sees the magazine, he picks it up and reads it, making Draco laugh at Harry and Hermione.
After the last task in The Triwizard Tournament, he taunts Harry about Cedric Diggory's death and insults Hermione and Ron, but Fred and George Weasley hex Draco, Crabbe and Goyle with multiple spells knocking them out.
Draco is appointed a Prefect, along with Pansy Parkinson, for Slytherin House. Hermione reports that he is beastly towards the First Years, clearly abusing his Prefect's powers.
As they travel from the train station to Hogwarts castle, Draco and his sidekicks ride in a horse-less carriage with Pansy Parkinson.
Draco, Pansy, Crabbe, and Goyle are laughing about something as they arrive at Care of Magical Creatures class. When Professor Grubbly-Plank, who is substituting for the absent Hagrid, asks if anyone can identify some creatures, Hermione raises her hand, prompting Draco to mimic her. Pansy shrieks with laughter, then screams as the little bundles of twigs on the table jump up, revealing themselves to be Bowtruckles. As he collects a Bowtruckle, Draco suggests to Harry that Hagrid could have run into something too big for him and gotten hurt. Although we are yet to realize it, and Harry never seems to draw the connection himself, this indicates that Draco knows something about Hagrid's secret mission for Dumbledore.
When Professor Umbridge is evaluating the Care of Magical Creatures class taught by Professor Grubbly-Plank during Hagrid's absence, Malfoy claims he was slashed by a Hippogriff. When Hagrid returns to Hogwarts, he tells his class they will be working in the Forbidden Forest. Draco seems scared, needing reassurance that the creatures they will be looking at are properly trained. He is hardly reassured by Hagrid's injured appearance.
Educational Decree Number Twenty Four banning all unauthorized school organizations is published, and Draco boasts that the Slytherin Quidditch team was reformed almost automatically, given his father's influence within the Ministry. He implies that Harry will be sent to St. Mungo's, where there is a special ward for the incurably insane. Hearing this, Neville tries to attack Draco, but Harry and Ron restrain him.
During Harry's secret Dumbledore's Army session, Dobby suddenly arrives to warn Harry that Umbridge has found out and is on her way. Harry orders D.A. members to run, then heads for a bathroom where Draco, concealed, catches him with a Trip Jinx. Umbridge, arriving, congratulates Draco and sends Draco to search for the other D.A. members. Harry is dragged to the Headmaster's Office, where Cornelius Fudge, and also Dumbledore, are waiting. Umbridge reports that Draco has caught "the Potter boy." Fudge responds he will inform Lucius Malfoy.
After Umbridge ousts Dumbledore as Headmaster and assumes command, Draco is appointed to her Inquisitorial Squad, along with Montague and Pansy Parkinson. The Inquisitorial Squad has been given unrestricted power to deduct points from all Houses; Draco is quick to abuse his authority.
Shortly afterwards, Professor Umbridge sends Draco to get Snape's assistance in extracting Montague, an Inquisitorial Squad member who has been missing for some time, from a toilet. Draco interrupts Harry and Snape during an Occlumency lesson. Draco is intrigued and amused when Snape, to cover what they are actually doing, explains that Harry is taking remedial Potions.
As OWL exams approach, Draco loudly proclaims that one's OWL marks are due more to who you know rather than what you know, and mentions that his father is close friends with Griselda Marchbanks, head of the Wizarding Examination Authority. Neville whispers to Harry and Ron that Griselda Marchbanks is a friend of his grandmother's, and she has never mentioned the Malfoy family.
In Harry's Charms OWL exam, his examiner, Professor Tofty, greets him as, "the famous Harry Potter?" Draco, overhearing, glares malevolently at Harry, as the wine glass he is levitating falls and smashes.
Umbridge catches Harry using her office fireplace as he frantically attempts to contact Sirius Black, who may be in peril at the Ministry. Two Inquisitorial Squad members, Draco and Millicent Bulstrode, accompany her. Draco and Umbridge restrain Harry, while Millicent captures Hermione. When Harry refuses to reveal who he was contacting, Umbridge orders Draco to fetch Snape; Hermione suddenly "confesses" that they were trying to contact Professor Dumbledore about the secret weapon he had them build. Umbridge demands Hermione lead her to it. Draco suggests he should go along, to which Hermione readily agrees is a good idea; suspicious, and over Draco's protests, Umbridge declares that only Hermione and Harry will go. The other DA members who were also caught, escape the Inquisitorial Squad, aided by Ginny's Bat Bogey jinx cast at Draco.
When Harry returns to Hogwarts after the battle at the Ministry, Draco, with Crabbe and Goyle, threatens retaliation for his father, Lucius, having been sentenced to Azkaban prison. Snape's arrival ends the duel before any spells are cast.
Aboard the homeward-bound Hogwarts Express, Draco tries to jinx Harry, but D.A. members arrive in time and, Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle are jinxed until they look like gigantic slugs squeezed into Hogwarts uniforms. Harry, Ernie, and Justin leave the three in the luggage rack.
Throughout this book, Draco is almost always in the Room of Requirement, with the exception of Professor Slughorn's party, which he accidentally crashes, where Harry later overhears Snape and Draco arguing.
Later, Harry finds Draco sobbing in the boys' bathroom. Apparently he has been trying to do something but it is not going well, and he deeply fears what will happen to him and his family should he fail. Catching Harry's reflection in the mirror, Draco spins and fires curses at him. Harry, defending himself, uses Sectumsempra, an unknown curse he found in the Half-Blood Prince's textbook, with only the notation, "For enemies". Draco nearly dies from blood loss, but is saved by Snape's timely arrival.
Draco has been tasked by Voldemort to murder Professor Dumbledore. When Draco traps the professor atop the Astronomy Tower, he is unable to carry out Voldemort's orders. As he is about to lower his wand and accept Dumbledore's help, other Death Eaters, including Bellatrix Lestrange, who have invaded Hogwarts with Draco's help, find him and Dumbledore. Snape also arrives, and, as Harry helplessly watches from under his Invisibility Cloak, Snape casts a lethal curse at Dumbledore. Draco is last seen being towed by Snape as he, and the other Death Eaters, escape Hogwarts.
Harry, Hermione, and Ron escape two Death Eaters at an all-night café on Tottenham Court Road, altering their memories so they are unable to remember who they nearly captured. The Trio then hide out at Number 12, Grimmauld Place. Shortly after their arrival, Voldemort's rage once again drags Harry into his mind, and he watches the Death Eater, Thorfinn Rowle, being tortured for failing to catch Harry. Harry is dismayed that it is a sick-looking Draco who is forced to do the torturing.
Snatchers, led by the werewolf, Fenrir Greyback, apprehend the Trio, but Harry's magically altered face, makes it difficult to recognize him. At Malfoy Manor, Lucius calls on Draco to identify Harry. Possibly misled by Harry's swollen face, Draco balks at making a definitive identification, though he may be protecting him. Narcissa Malfoy, however, recognizes Hermione, and is about to summon Voldemort when Bellatrix halts her. After confining the others to the cellars, Bellatrix tortures Hermione for information about the Sword of Gryffindor. When Hermione says it is a fake, Lucius has Draco fetch the goblin, Griphook to verify its authenticity. As Draco leaves the cellar, Dobby Apparates in.
When Harry and Ron escape the cellar, Ron, armed with Peter Pettigrew's wand, Disarms Bellatrix, but is forced to surrender his wand when Bellatrix holds a knife to Hermione's throat. Draco collects the fallen wands, but after Dobby drops the chandelier on Bellatrix, Harry physically wrests all three wands (Bellatrix', Pettigrew's, and Draco's) from Draco's hand before he and Dobby escape, though Dobby is killed.
Surprisingly, when Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle corner Harry in the Room of Requirement, it is not Draco, but Crabbe and Goyle who talk the most. Draco demands Harry return his wand, though Harry refuses. When Crabbe starts knocking piles of junk over, Draco stops him, saying if they destroy the room, they may be unable to find the Diadem. When Crabbe sets the Fiendfyre, Harry, Ron, and Hermione escape on brooms; Harry circles back to save Draco and Goyle, but Crabbe is lost.
As Harry, Ron, and Hermione are making their way under the Invisibility Cloak to the Shrieking Shack, they pass Draco, who is pleading with a Death Eater not to jinx him, that he is on their side. Harry Stuns the Death Eater, and Ron punches Draco, saying that is twice they have saved his life, and calling him two-faced.
Facing Voldemort in the Great Hall, Harry tells him that, even though Voldemort holds the Elder Wand, he does not command it. The wand owes its allegiance to the one who forcefully removed it from its previous master; and as Snape had not taken it from Dumbledore, Snape was never its master. Instead, it was Draco who had Disarmed Dumbledore; and Draco, in turn, had been Disarmed by Harry weeks earlier. The wand Harry won from Draco was now in his hand. Now the issue is: does the Elder Wand sense that Draco was disarmed? If so, then Harry is now the Elder Wand's master.
In the Epilogue, we see Draco, who acknowledges Harry with a nod, with his wife and son, Scorpius. Draco's hairline is receding slightly, which makes his already-pointed chin appear somewhat sharper.
editDraco is intelligent, magically proficient, and grows into a strong wizard; his father introduced him early on to some Dark Arts magic that most young wizards his age rarely see or even know about. This has given him some advantages that other wizards lack. Like most in his family, Draco was sorted into Slytherin House where he is favored by Professor Snape, a powerful wizard at Hogwarts and head of Slytherin
Draco's family is particularly wealthy and influential, and while Draco himself never directly influences the Ministry or other wizard institutions, he does benefit from it through his father, and has some indirect affect as well. His family's wealth and influence has probably helped him garner his supporters/thug companions, Crabbe and Goyle.
Though he did not achieve the position in a fair manner, he seems to have turned out a rather strong Quidditch seeker, to the point that his missing a match is considered a really lucky coincidence by the opposing team in Half-Blood Prince.
Draco's greatest strength may be that he has developed rather differently from his family, lacking their Dark, evil nature. This does, at times, cause him great personal anguish and he believes himself a failure when he is unable to fully act as Lord Voldemort's agent. It is, however, Draco's innate morality that rules his behavior. While Draco never consciously betrays his family, his actions late in the series saves others' lives, as well as his own soul, and shows he is capable of remorse and redemption. And though he will always embody traditional Slytherin characteristics, Draco learns much from his family's misdeeds, likely retaining a moral nature and becoming a far better person than his wicked relatives.
editRather than developing his own unique personality traits and abilities, Draco's character is almost entirely formed and sustained by his family's wealth and reputation, as well as by his followers. When accompanied by his enforcers, Crabbe and Goyle, he struts and acts the bully; but as early as flying lessons in the first book, we see that he is effectively lost without their presence. Confronted on his own by Harry, who is astride a broom for the first time, Draco retreats with dishonour. Having challenged Harry to a duel, rather than keeping the appointment, Draco instead tips off Filch that students will be out after hours. Even with Crabbe and Goyle in attendance, his courage is lacking. When Hermione slaps him, the three simply retreat. This weak resolve remains throughout the series, and in the battle at Hogwarts, late in the final book, we see Draco pleading for his life.
In fact, Draco, at least through the first five books, is entirely without honour. He is the epitome of Slytherin's belief, "using any means to achieve their ends," as the Sorting Hat says.
By the sixth book, Draco's bullying persona starts eroding after Voldemort appoints him to perform an unspeakable task. A more vulnerable side to his personality is exposed as he agonizes over obeying Voldemort's orders, knowing it involves an act he is incapable of performing, but that he must accomplish to protect his family. In the seventh book, Draco shows there are even more limits to what he can or will do. While we see that he still lacks a forceful enough character to resist being manipulated, his youth, inexperience, subordination to his family's strong authority, and fear of Voldemort are contributing factors to his behavior. In particular, Harry sees Draco's revulsion at being forced to torture the Death Eater, Rowle, and we witness Draco's reluctance to identify Harry after his capture, knowing that if he does, Voldemort will promptly murder him. In both cases, even though Draco resists, he is unable to prevent himself from being exploited, mostly because he fears for his and his family's lives.
Relationships with Other Characters
editMalfoy's greatest nemesis is Harry Potter, who was instrumental in Lord Voldemort's downfall. He was insulted when Harry spurned his offer of friendship after their first meeting, Harry preferring Ron Weasley's company over his. Draco also resents Harry's fame and may be jealous over his greater power as a wizard. Draco equally despises Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley, Hermione because she is Muggle-born and a superior student, and Ron, who, despite being a pure-blood wizard, is poor, and whose family dares to advocate Half-blood and Muggle-born wizards as equals to pure bloods, and that Muggles also have rights.
Draco lacks true friends, even among his fellow Slytherins, but his two cronies, Crabbe and Goyle, who Draco treats as minions, continually trail him about, following his orders. He does, however, appear to have emotional connections with the two, as he is upset when Crabbe is killed, and he tries his best to keep Goyle alive. Crabbe, Goyle, and others who gravitate to Draco, mainly seem attracted to his family's wealth and status. Draco generally considers most students outside Slytherin as inferior. This attitude also extends to many Hogwarts teachers and staff, though he apparently admires Professor Snape, while considering Professor Dumbledore foolish and ineffectual.
In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Harry overhears Draco boasting about an important mission the Dark Lord has assigned him. When Harry mentions it to Ron, he erroneously believes Draco was merely trying to impress Pansy Parkinson.
Pansy is Draco's date at the Yule Ball, in book 4, and she is often seen in close proximity to him, but it appears that their relationship never develops into anything serious or that Draco has any romantic interest in her during the series. Pansy, however, always seems intent on pursuing Draco, possibly, like others, attracted to his family name and wealth.
Draco is always respectful and obedient to his parents, particularly his father, who Draco loves and admires, but also fears. Draco also deeply loves his mother, though he seems unable to openly express it. Being an only child and a son, both his parents apparently have high expectations that he will continue the Malfoy legacy, upholding its traditions, and remaining loyal to the Dark Lord and his pure-blood ethos.
Bellatrix Black Lestrange, Narcissa Malfoy's sister, is Draco's aunt. Their relationship never seems particularly close, though Bellatrix is surprisingly impressed that Draco has shown an eagerness to take on Voldemort's secret mission; she has also tutored Draco in Occlumency, possibly to block Snape, who she never trusts, from reading Draco's mind and learning more details about the Dark Lord's plans. Bellatrix goads Snape into making an unbreakable vow with Narcissa to aid Draco should he fail to complete the Dark Lord's task, though she seems more motivated to ensure the mission's success rather than protect her nephew.
According to Narcissa Malfoy, Professor Snape is Draco's favourite teacher. It also seems that Draco is Snape's favourite student, though his connection to the wealthy and influential Malfoy family appears to have much to do with that. Later in the series, Snape actually secretly works with Dumbledore to protect Draco, knowing it is Voldemort's intent to kill the boy solely to punish Lucius Malfoy for his failure to retrieve a prophecy. Draco resists Snape's help, however, believing it will only further endanger his family, and perhaps having come to distrust him as much as his Aunt Bellatrix does. When Snape escapes following the battle at Hogwarts, he forces Draco to go with him, perhaps fearing Draco's life will be in danger if he remains behind.
Also, though they never speak throughout the entire series, Draco is Nymphadora Tonks' first cousin through their mothers, Narcissa and Andromeda, who are sisters. Due to Andromeda's marrying the Muggle-born wizard Ted Tonks, she has been disowned by her family, the Blacks. Neither Andromeda nor the Black family cares to acknowledge the relationship. Only Sirius Black, Andromeda's cousin who also has been disowned by the Blacks, has any contact with the Tonks family.
editRowling uses Draco in the series as Harry Potter's enemy and also as a contrast to his personality. Pure blood, 'evil', Slytherin, Death Eater: these characteristics show how Draco differs from Harry. It is interesting to note, however, how Draco gradually becomes a better person as the series progresses.
We note in the Loyalty part of the headnote that Draco was loyal to his family. While Draco quite obviously reveled in the feeling of superiority that his ancestry brought him, and so would seem to be aligned with Voldemort who was espousing that belief, we can also see that Draco has little stomach for Voldemort's methods. His adherence to the Death Eater organizational ideals was quite possibly driven by his family.
First Five Books
editThrough the first five books, Draco's behaviour is consistent. Apparently the archetypal Slytherin, Draco uses any means, fair or foul, to get ahead. He apparently bribes his way into being the new Slytherin Quidditch Seeker when his father donates expensive brooms to the team. He consistently belittles students in other Houses, particularly Harry, Ron, and Hermione. He seems supremely self-confident, quite clearly believing that his father's wealth and his Pure-blood status will get him anything he wants, rather than achieving it by his own talents and abilities. And we see also that he has surrounded himself with sycophants (notably Pansy Parkinson) and hired muscle, (Crabbe and Goyle, who are presumably paid in status). Taking a leaf from Slytherin's book, Draco especially belittles Muggle-borns (like Hermione), whose parents have no magical ability, and half-bloods (like Harry), born of wizards or witches who were Muggle offspring, or those who profess to like Muggles (such as the Weasley family). Like most bullies, Draco immediately backs down when faced with a superior force. In Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Draco's over-bearing father Lucius is equally belittling to his own son, causing Draco, who fears his father, to merely take it, having no other choice. Additionally, Hermione, goaded beyond her limits, slaps Draco, whereupon he and his thugs rapidly depart. We quickly see that Draco has largely been moulded into his father's image. Draco is, of course, chastened when his father is removed from the Board of Governors of Hogwarts, but he recovers. One supposes he has rationalized to himself that this is only a mistake that will be rectified shortly after the Board realizes their error. However, Lucius' arrest in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix severely affects Draco. Initially, he retains his arrogance, blaming Harry for his father being arrested, which is, in Draco's view, an inversion of how things should work: being a Pure-Blood, Lucius should be proof against any efforts by Muggle-borns or Muggle lovers, and here he clearly was not. However, that Lucius remains imprisoned must have some effect on Draco.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
editDraco faces difficult problems he may be unable to solve by himself. We suspect he has become a Death Eater, as he seems protective, almost obsessively, about where the Dark Mark would have been placed on him, but this is never fully confirmed, as he never reveals the Mark. While he exhibits the same arrogance, we start seeing cracks in his armour. In the Potions class he takes with Harry, he no longer needles Harry. Instead, he has been commiserating with Moaning Myrtle about something he is trying to unsuccessfully do. And in the end of the book, he quite clearly has been burdened with performing several secret tasks; one, murdering Dumbledore, is something that he is unable to carry out. His prevarication when faced with this seems alien to the person we previously believed Draco to be. His mother, Narcissa, of course, understands her son well, and early in the book, she is expressing her fear to Snape that Draco will fail and be punished for that failure.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
editThe Dark Lord better understood Draco than we did in the previous book. Voldemort deliberately set up Draco to fail in the tasks he assigned him, solely as a means to punish Draco's family for their earlier failures to carry out Voldemort's commands. Voldemort knows Draco's basic weakness is what we recognize as the remaining core of his humanity. Several views of Draco and his family show us that, despite what was seen in the earlier books, Draco, though despicable, is not inherently evil. He is forced to torture a Death Eater who has failed Voldemort, and Harry sees, through Voldemort's eyes, Draco's revulsion at having to perform this task. When Harry is captured and brought to Malfoy Manor, Draco knows that if he identifies Harry, Harry, along with Ron and Hermione, will be murdered, causing Draco to balk at confirming his identity.
Later, Draco, with Crabbe and Goyle, remains at Hogwarts after the other Slytherins are evacuated before the Battle of Hogwarts, apparently to try and capture Harry for Voldemort. He may believe this could restore Voldemort's favour to him and his family. Draco's bullying nature does seem more pronounced whenever he is within Hogwarts' halls, far from his father's authority, and where he has Crabbe and Goyle's support. However, during the battle, Draco seems more concerned with preserving his own hide rather than attacking either side in the fight.
It appears that Draco never has a realization about which side he is actually on, nor does he experience an epiphany about the Dark side's true nature or that it will eventually lead everything to death and destruction. It seems unlikely he will arrive at that conclusion after the series end. Draco believes in the same sentiments as most Death Eaters, and obediently follows his father, but he balks at employing their methods, thus never fully embracing either side. Almost a prototypical Slytherin, Draco's allegiance seems ruled by whatever potential there is for personal gain. He will likely work alongside whatever side is poised to win. His selecting the main chance in this manner, however, does tend to prevent him from weighing the relative outcomes in any sense larger than his own personal future.
- How will Narcissa Malfoy's love for her son affect his actions?
- Will Malfoy have a point of redemption, a point of realization that Voldemort's path only leads to destruction and death?
- Do you think Draco Malfoy really wanted to go over to Voldemort's side?
Greater Picture
editAlthough he loves his father, Draco fears him and what might happen if he should disobey or displease him in any way. His greatest vulnerability is his love for his parents, and theirs is their love for him. While he strives to emulate Voldemort, the main difference between them is that Draco does know love, that of his mother, and to a lesser extent, his father's. Draco has grown up in a sheltered family with a mother who showered him with care packages during his first year at Hogwarts, and a father who would wreak havoc on anyone who hurt him. But we note from the few interactions that we see between Draco and Lucius that there is a definite bullying aspect to their relationship. It would appear that Draco grew up in an abusive home, constantly surrounded by verbal (if not physical) violence and isolation. This aspect is often overlooked, as people will always stereotype Draco as the "bad guy," but people never begin to look into why he acts this way.
Draco is also unable to kill. In the sixth book, Voldemort has ordered him to murder Professor Dumbledore. However, when the opportunity finally arises, Draco, torn and distraught, hesitates and is talked down by the professor. Additionally, in the seventh book, he is told to identify Harry, Ron, and Hermione, and again he balks, giving an ambiguous answer, even when his father demands a definitive one. Both cases show that Draco has scruples and possesses an underlying humanity that prevents him performing immoral acts. Dumbledore recognized this humanity within Draco, and knowing that committing murder would destroy Draco's soul, he and Snape devised a plan to protect him.
It appears that Draco's hatred for Harry subsides later in life, and, in the epilogue, he acknowledges Harry with a polite nod at the train station, seeing their children off to Hogwarts.


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Relive last week's studio session with vocalist/pianist, Karrin Allyson, who was joined by guitarist Rod Fleeman.
Karrin has just released a CD called Round Midnight, which explores heartbreak. The first song she performed in this studio session was Paul Simon's April Come She Will, from the new CD.
"Choosing the material [for the CD] was challenging because, yes, they are heartbreak tunes but there's always a tinge of hope … and life," she told KPLU jazz host Dick Stein after the first song.
And it's that tinge of hope that makes the cumulative affect of Round Midnight uplifting rather than saddening.
The duo also performed Bill Evans' Turn Out The Stars and Charlie Chaplin's Smile (video below).
Between songs she and Dick discussed the craft of songwriting and the relationship between acting and singing.
It's a lovely set of songs from one of the world's finest jazz singers and one of our all-time favorite studio guests, Karrin Allyson.


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Megachurch Leader Ulf Ekman Explains Decision to Convert to Catholicism; Says He Was 'Bombarded With Questions' by Congregation
Swedish megachurch leader Ulf Ekman who formerly led the Word of Life charismatic church in Uppsala explained his decision to convert to Roman Catholicism, and revealed that he was "bombarded with questions" by his congregation, some of whom understood his decision, and some who didn't.
"Well, it became very quiet. And when it becomes quiet in a charismatic church, then you know people are thinking. When I'd finished there was actually spontaneous applause. That surprised me a lot and many, many people came up to me afterwards," Ekman said in an interview with Catholic Herald.
"Then, the day after, we had a question-and-answer session. I stood for two hours and they bombarded me with questions about Catholicism. The rest of the week all our pastors were ready to help people and answer questions. Every night there were sessions for that. So there has been a mixed feeling. Some understand. Some don't understand at all."
Ekman, who founded Word of Life in 1983, announced in March before his congregation that he and his wife, Birgitta, are converting to the Roman Catholic faith.
The Swedish church leader explained that he and Birgitta had prayed long and hard on the decision, and were influenced by "millions of charismatic Catholics" whom they saw living out their faith.
"We have seen a great love for Jesus and a sound theology, founded on the Bible and classic dogma. We have experienced the richness of sacramental life. We have seen the logic in having a solid structure for priesthood, that keeps the faith of the church and passes it on from one generation to the next," Ekman said at the time.
In the recent interview, the Word of Life founder reflected on the thought process and the many steps he and his wife took along the way in making the decision to join the Vatican.
"I felt the necessity to take it slowly because I felt responsibility for all the different congregations. So for me in the beginning it felt like an impossibility. It felt like something my heart was yearning for, but impossible to do in reality. But then there came a point when I felt that, no, this is possible, even though it seems difficult to do," he said.
"I also felt in this process a relief in being exposed to a number of different prejudices that you are not always clear that you have. But as you go along you notice them: lack of knowledge, just common prejudices, because we have cultural blind spots in Scandinavia when it comes to Catholics."
Ekman clarified that he and his wife will be confirmed in the Catholic faith in the spring. He added that he does not hope to take up a role within the Catholic Church, and is just content to join the church body.
As for whether his teachings while part of the Word of Faith movement have been wrong, he said the answer is "no."
"I believe I've taught the Bible to the best of my ability. We've preached the Gospel and evangelized according to the light we've had. I'm very happy about all the work that has been done and all the congregations that have been built. I in no way dismiss that. It's not a going from, it's a going to. It's a longing for more fullness, for a deeper understanding and participating in what the Church really is," Ekman explained.
Following Ekman's announcement in March, the Swedish Evangelical Alliance responded by praising him for his work, but also highlighting the "crucial dividing lines" between Catholics and Evangelicals.
"Ulf Ekman, despite all the controversies along the way, is undoubtedly the most dynamic and influential Christian leader we have had in Sweden during the past half century. His international significance goes far beyond what most Swedes understand; countless people around the world thank God for the ministry of Ulf Ekman," Stefan Gustavsson, general secretary of the Swedish Evangelical Alliance, stated, as reported by IRD President Mark Tooley.
"In other matters, there are crucial dividing lines which can't be avoided," he added.
"This applies to the matter of salvation where we do not agree on the importance of justification by faith. The matter of authority where we do not agree on the relationship between Scripture and tradition and it also applies to the view of the Church where we do not agree that the body of Christ has a visible organizational structure led from Rome, to name some of the main issues," Gustavsson further explained.
"Unity is a prayer and desire that all Christians share – or should share – and is one of the reasons that Ulf Ekman gives for his decision. At the same time there is also an underlying problem. The claim by the Catholic Church to be the visible expression of the Body of Christ have ever since the split between orthodox and catholic in 1054, is just one of the causes of division – and continues to be so."


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Food from the sea: shellfish and crustaceans
On this page...
Aboriginal People of coastal Sydney collected and ate many different types of shellfish and crustaceans.
Among the early historical observation of shellfish being cooked and eaten, and scattered around the huts, there are few descriptions of shellfish collecting. However, the few observations that mention the gender of the collector or carrier of the shellfish indicate men as well as women were involved in collecting shellfish in the Sydney region.
Shellfish were collected by hand from rock platforms as well as the sandy and muddy intertidal shorelines of the coast and estuaries. In Botany Bay Captain Cook saw people were in canoes collecting shellfish by hand from the sand and mud banks in shallow waters.
Oysters (probably both mud and rock oyster, though this is not specifically stated), mussels, cockles and limpets were the only species named. The local names of only a few shellfish were recorded: Dal-gal mussel, Dotang-by a rock oyster, Dainia oyster, and Kah-dien 'the shell on the wo-mar-ra or spearthrower', which could be one of several cockles.
Analysis of the shell species found in excavated shell middens indicate that people living around Sydney Harbour, Botany Bay and Broken Bay, most commonly ate Rock Oysters Saccostrea glomerata, Hairy Mussels Trichomya hirsuta and Sydney Cockles Anadara trapezia. Mud Oysters Ostrea angasi and Hercules Club Whelks Pyrazus ebeninus were also relatively common.
Along the ocean coastlines, there is a greater range of shellfish in the shell middens. Limpets Cellana tramoserica and Black Nerita Nerita atramentosa are the most common species, with Cartrut Dicathais orbita and Turbans Turbo torquata and Turbo undulata and Spengler's Triton Cabestana spengleri being less common.
In shell middens in the lower parts of Sydney Harbour, Botany Bay and Broken Bay, where ocean conditions exist, both estuarine and ocean species are present.
People living along the upper brackish parts of the Georges and Hawkesbury Rivers were reported to have eaten teredinid or Teredo. Although commonly called shipworms they are a shellfish and not a worm. They are also known as cobra, a name from the local Aboriginal name, cah-bro. They are a marine wood-borer which inhabit trees and logs that have fallen into the water and remain submerged, preferably in still water.
After a trip to the Hawkesbury River (Richmond Hill) in 1790s, Judge Advocate David Collins wrote that a man left;
'behind him a specimen of his food and the delicacy of his stomach; a piece of water-soaked wood (part of the branch of a tree) full of holes, the lodgment of a large worm, named by them cah-bro, and which they extract and eat (Collins 1798[1975]:462)
Collins continued with reference to groups living on the Georges River:
There is a tribe of natives dwelling inland, who, from the circumstance of their eating these loathsome worms, are named Cah-bro-gal.
The present-day Sydney suburb Cabramatta is named after this area.
Blue Swimmer Crabs Portunus pelagius, Mud Crabs Scylla serrata, Soldier Crabs, Spiny Lobsters or Sea-crayfish Jasus verreauxi, Eastern King Prawn Penaeus plebejus, Eastern School Prawn Metapenaeus maclyeayi and rock barnacles such as the large 'purple plated' Austrobalanus imperator are common in Sydney Harbour. The only crustaceans reported by the colonists to have been eaten were crayfish, which were caught in Port Jackson with small hoop nets. There is no mention at all of prawns, crabs or barnacles being caught or eaten, though the name for crabs, Ke-ra, was recorded.
Archaeological excavations have recovered only small amounts of crab and crayfish remains. The fragility of the exoskeletons, which do not survive well in archaeological deposits, probably explains why only small amounts are found. Barnacles occur in middens, but they may not have been collected for food as they often attached themselves to other shellfish that were eaten.


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With Colette, director Wash Westmoreland attempts to dramatize what makes a writer tick.
Directors Joseph Kosinski and Hany Abu-Assad discuss working in extreme environments, and harnessing that authenticity, in the films Only the Brave and The Mountain Between Us.
Resurrecting famous athletes in their prime is no mean feat for directors Brian Helgeland, Valerie Faris and Jonathan Dayton
Jeffrey Reiner juggles multiple perspectives in The Affair.
Directors discuss overcoming challenges and, in effect, making lemons into lemonade when circumstances are less than ideal.
A prison riot is accomplished with maximum prep and knowing the lay of the land on Ric Roman Waugh's Shot Caller.
Director Lev Spiro places an actor's health above all else while filming Orange is the New Black.
A delayed start and severe weather work in director Doug Liman's favor on The Wall.
U.K. director John Madden discusses working in tight quarters on Miss Sloane.
Director Peter Berg talks about the importance of community trust on Patriots Day.


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Much of what I used here, are left overs from year after year. I save cones, birch branches, artificial berries and those seed pod cups. Don't throw them away! Just tuck them in your garage, shed, basement (wherever you can) in a container. Be sure you dry them all out before storing, or use a container that has good air circulation.
I used seeded eucalyptus (above urns), and with the leftovers I added it to one of my metal bowls and put a candle in it. Simple. Seeded eucalyptus dries and it's such a great addition to your Christmas decor!