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Have you ever worried about how you'll remember a wine's flavors and aromas after several days have passed? Well, as it turns out, all it takes is 10,000 hours.
What's your favorite method for remembering the taste of your favorite wines? Leave me a comment and let me know.
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Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2013
News for Academic Physicians
Med schools offering shorter training, smaller tuition bill
New York University (NYU) and a handful of other medical schools are among the first to begin shortening medical school and, ultimately, reducing the cost of training, according to a recent report in the New York Times.
These efforts are reflected in the AMA's Accelerating Change in Medical Education initiative, which supports, for example, new methods for measuring and assessing key competencies for medical students and physicians to create more flexible, individualized learning plans.
Administrators at NYU say they can make the change without compromising quality by eliminating redundancies in their science curriculum, getting students into clinical training more quickly and adding some extra class time in the summer, the Times reports. And all while saving a quarter of the cost of tuition, which at NYU comes to $49,560 annually. This could mean substantially less debt as medical students move into their residency training.
"We're confident that our three-year students are going to get the same depth and core knowledge, that we're not going to turn it into a trade school," Steven Abramson, MD, vice dean for education, faculty and academic affairs at NYU School of Medicine, told the Times.
The movement is not without critics, the Times reports. Some say that a three-year medical program would deprive students of the time they need to delve deeply into their subjects, to consolidate their learning and to reach the level of maturity they need to begin practicing, while adding even more pressure to a stressful academic environment.
Next AMA-SMS meeting set for June 14–15 in Chicago
Join your colleagues in Chicago for the next AMA Section on Medical Schools meeting, which will take place June 14–15 in conjunction with the Annual Meeting of the AMA House of Delegates. Watch AMA Wire and the AMA-SMS Web page for more details about the meeting.
Also, be sure to check out a new YouTube video featuring AMA-SMS Governing Council Chair Maria Savoia, MD, highlighting the AMA-SMS's role in serving as the voice of academic medicine to the AMA House of Delegates.
AMA to Congress: Preserve funding for medical residencies
As the federal sequestration budget cuts approach, medical students and physicians across the country are telling Congress that funding for graduate medical education (GME) is an area the nation can't afford to slash.
Unless Congress acts first, GME will undergo untimely cuts in Medicare financing on Friday. Many organizations are taking a stand on this critical issue—and the AMA is one of them.
The AMA's Save GME campaign makes it easy for medical students and physicians to urge their members of Congress to preserve GME funding and lift the federal cap on residency slots.
Read more about the campaign and how you can get involved.

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Categories > Books > Harry Potter > Reading Chamber of Secrets at Hogwarts
Chapter Nine: The Writing on the Wall1 Reviews
Reading Chapter Nine: The Writing on the Wall
"What's going on here? What's going on?"
Attracted no doubt by Malfoy's shout, Argus Filch came shouldering his way through the crowd.
"Oh that's not going to be good, he loves that cat." Neville said with a clear look of questioning as to how anyone could love that beast.
Then he saw Mrs. Norris and fell back, clutching his face in horror.
"My cat! My cat! What's happened to Mrs. Norris?" he shrieked.
And his popping eyes fell on Harry.
"Of course they did," Harry sighed. "Every time something happens in this school, its my fault."
"You!"he screeched. "You! You've murdered my cat! You've killed her! I'll kill you! I'll-"
Dumbledore had arrived on the scene, followed by a number of other teachers. In seconds, he had swept past Harry, Ron, and Hermione and detached Mrs. Norris from the torch bracket.
"Come with me, Argus," he said to Filch. "You, too, Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley, Miss Granger."
Lockhart stepped forward eagerly.
"Of course, anything to be at the center of attention," Remus grumbled.
"My office is nearest, Headmaster - just upstairs - please feel free-"
"Thank you, Gilderoy," said Dumbledore.
The silent crowd parted to let them pass. Lockhart, looking excited and important, hurried after Dumbledore; so did Professors McGonagall and Snape.
As they entered Lockhart's darkened office there was a flurry of movement across the walls; Harry saw several of the Lockharts in the pictures dodging out of sight, their hair in rollers.
In this case, not one person tried to contain their amusement, even Fudge and Percy cracked a smile at Lockhart's expense.
The real Lockhart lit the candles on his desk and stood back. Dumbledore lay Mrs. Norris on the polished surface and began to examine her. Harry, Ron, and Hermione exchanged tense looks and sank into chairs outside the pool of candlelight, watching.
"And waiting to see if we were going to be in trouble," Ron added, shrugging.
The tip of Dumbledore's long, crooked nose was barely an inch from Mrs. Norris's fur. He was looking at her closely through his half-moon spectacles, his long fingers gently prodding and poking. Professor McGonagall was bent almost as close, her eyes narrowed. Snape loomed behind them, half in shadow, wearing a most peculiar expression: It was as though he was trying hard not to smile.
"Well what sane person wouldn't smile at that blasted cat's demise?" Snape muttered.
"There is a time and a place for everything Severus." McGonagall reprimanded him and he resorted to mumbling under his breath.
And Lockhart was hovering around all of them, making suggestions.
"It was definitely a curse that killed her - probably the Transmogrifian Torture –
"Has anyone else ever heard of that spell?" Remus asked and there were several shaking heads.
I've seen it used many times, so unlucky I wasn't there, I know the very countercurse that would have saved her..."
"Oh I very much doubt that." Harry said wincing at the memory of Lockhart trying to 'fix' his arm. The man couldn't preform even the simplest of spells.
Lockhart's comments were punctuated by Filch's dry, racking sobs. He was slumped in a chair by the desk, unable to look at Mrs. Norris, his face in his hands. Much as he detested Filch, Harry couldn't help feeling a bit sorry for him, though not nearly as sorry as he felt for himself.
"Harry!" Mrs. Weasley scolded.
"Sorry Mrs. Weasley," Harry mumbled, glaring at Ron who was smirking.
If Dumbledore believed Filch, he would be expelled for sure.
Dumbledore was now muttering strange words under his breath and tapping Mrs. Norris with his wand but nothing happened. She continued to look as though she had been recently stuffed.
Most of the pranksters in the room sighed wistfully.
"...I remember something very similar happening in Ouagadogou," said Lockhart, "a series of attacks, the full story's in my autobiography, I was able to provide the townsfolk with various amulets, which cleared the matter up at once..."
"For Merlin's sake shut up!" Remus said losing his patience with the book. "Just get on with what happened to the cat!"
The photographs of Lockhart on the walls were all nodding in agreement as he talked. One of them had forgotten to remove his hair net.
At last Dumbledore straightened up.
"She's not dead, Argus," he said softly.
Lockhart stopped abruptly in the middle of counting the number of murders he had prevented.
"Not dead?" choked Filch, looking through his fingers at Mrs. Norris. "But why's she all - all stiff and frozen?"
"All stiff and frozen? That was the best he could come up with?" George wondered.
"She has been Petrified," said Dumbledore ("Ah! I thought so!" said Lockhart). "But how, I cannot say..."
Ginny shivered. She knew how since she was the one that did it.
"It wasn't your fault," Harry whispered, giving her hand a gentle squeeze. He would tell her that until she believed him. It wasn't her that had petrified all those people.
"Ask him!" shrieked Filch, turning his blotched and tearstained face to Harry.
"No second year could have done this," said Dumbledore firmly. "it would take Dark Magic of the most advanced-"
"Kind," Dumbledore finished his past self's sentence, knowing that he would be interrupted.
"He did it, he did it!" Filch spat, his pouchy face purpling. "You saw what he wrote on the wall! He found - in my office - he knows I'm a - I'm a -" Filch's face worked horribly. "He knows I'm a Squib!" he finished.
"And if I wanted revenge on Filch, why would I attack Mrs. Norris?"
"I don't think he was thinking that far in advance Harry," Hermione told him.
"I never touched Mrs. Norris!" Harry said loudly, uncomfortably aware of everyone looking at him, including all the Lockharts on the walls. "And I don't even know what a Squib is."
Hermione opened her mouth but Harry cut across her. "I know now remember?"
"Rubbish!" snarled Filch. "He saw my Kwikspell letter!"
"If I might speak, Headmaster," said Snape from the shadows, and Harry's sense of foreboding increased; he was sure nothing Snape had to say was going to do him any good.
"Does it ever?" Ron wondered.
"What was that Mr. Weasley?" Snape snarled from his spot at the table.
"Nothing sir, just thinking to myself," Ron quickly answered. Then in a tone so low that only Remus heard it, "Stupid bat hearing." The people in the circle couldn't understand why Remus was having a sudden coughing fit, but he quickly waved for Luna to continue reading.
"Potter and his friends may have simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time," he said, a slight sneer curling his mouth as though he doubted it. "But we do have a set of suspicious circumstances here. Why was he in the upstairs corridor at all? Why wasn't he at the Halloween feast?"
Harry, Ron and Hermione all launched into an explanation about the deathday party. "...there were hundreds of ghosts, they'll tell you we were there-"
"But why not join the feast afterward?" said Snape, his black eyes glittering in the candlelight. "Why go up to that corridor?"
Ron and Hermione looked at Harry.
"Because - because -" Harry said, his heart thumping very fast; something told him it would sound very far-fetched if he told them he had been led there by a bodiless voice no one but he could hear,
"That sounds far-fetched to me and I read about it," Neville admitted.
"because we were tired and wanted to go to bed," he said.
"Without any supper?" said Snape, a triumphant smile flickering across his gaunt face. "I didn't think ghosts provided food fit for living people at their parties."
"I doubt that food was even fit for dead people," Ron said.
"We weren't hungry," said Ron loudly as his stomach gave a huge rumble.
In the present, Ron's stomach did the same thing. "When can we eat lunch?" He asked pleadingly.
"How many chapters are left Miss Lovegood?" Dumbledore asked Luna.
"Nine sir," she answered after quickly checking the table of contents.
"So after this chapter Mr. Weasley," Dumbledore told Ron.
"Read Luna! Read!" Ron said hurriedly.
Snape's nasty smile widened.
"I suggest, Headmaster, that Potter is not being entirely truthful," he said. "It might be a good idea if he were deprived of certain privileges until he is ready to tell us the whole story. I personally feel he should be taken off the Gryffindor Quidditch team until he is ready to be honest."
"And what does a petrified cat have to do with Quidditch? It's not like the cat was attacked by a broomstick," Remus said, glaring at Snape.
"Really, Severus," said Professor McGonagall sharply, "I see no reason to stop the boy playing Quidditch. This cat wasn't hit over the head with a broomstick.
"Thank you Professor," Remus said to McGonagall, giving Snape a smug smile.
There is no evidence at all that Potter has done anything wrong."
Dumbledore was giving Harry a searching look. His twinkling light-blue gaze made Harry feel as though he were being X-rayed.
"I hate that feeling," Harry muttered. "It always makes me feel guilty."
Remus chuckled. "Snuffles was the only one of us that was immune to that feeling."
"Innocent until proven guilty, Severus," he said firmly.
Snape looked furious.
So did Filch.
"My cat has been Petrified!"
"What happened to stiff and frozen?" Hermione scoffed.
he shrieked, his eyes popping. "I want to see some punishment!"
"We will be able to cure her, Argus," said Dumbledore patiently. "Professer Sprout recently managed to procure some Mandrakes.
"What a coincidence," Remus stated, already knowing that it wasn't purely a coincidence that Mandrakes were being covered by the second years that particular year.
As soon as they have reached their full size, I will have a potion made that will revive Mrs. Norris."
"I'll make it," Lockhart butted in. "I must have done it a hundred times. I could whip up a Mandrake Restorative Draught in my sleep-"
"Excuse me," said Snape icily. "But I believe I am the Potions master at this school."
"I cant believe I'm saying this, but nicely done Severus," Remus told the man.
"Would you care to repeat that Lupin? I didn't quite hear you," Snape sneered.
Remus rolled his eyes. "Don't push it."
There was a very awkward pause.
"You may go," Dumbledore said to Harry, Ron, and Hermione.
They went, as quickly as they could without actually running. When they were a floor up from Lockhart's office, they turned into an empty classroom and closed the door quietly behind them. Harry squinted at his friends' darkened faces.
"D'you think I should have told them about that voice I heard?"
"No," said Ron, without hesitation. "Hearing voices no one else can hear isn't a good sign, even in the wizarding world."
"It's worse in the Muggle world," Hermione said. "They lock you up because there aren't any potions or spells to help you."
"Are you saying I need a straight jacket and a padded cell?" Harry asked her.
"Well mate," Fred and George began.
"Keep reading Luna," Harry cut them off.
Something in Ron's voice made Harry ask, "You do believe me, don't you?"
"Course I do," said Ron quickly. "But - you must admit it's weird..."
"I know it's weird," said Harry. "The whole thing's weird. What was that writing on the wall about? The Chamber Has Been Opened ... What's that supposed to mean?"
"You know, it rings a sort of bell," said Ron slowly. "I think someone told me a story about a secret chamber at Hogwarts once... might've been Bill..."
"What? No answer from Hermione?" Fred and George teased but Hermione shrugged.
"I agreed with Ron, it did ring a bell, I just had to find it." She answered.
"And what on earth's a Squib?" said Harry.
To his surprise, Ron stifled a snigger.
"Well - it's not funny really - but as it's Filch," he said. "A Squib is someone who was born into a wizarding family but hasn't got any magic powers. Kind of the opposite of Muggle-born wizards, but Squibs are quite unusual. If Filch's trying to learn magic from a Kwikspell course, I reckon he must be a Squib. It would explain a lot. Like why he hates students so much." Ron gave a satisfied smile. "He's bitter."
"Ronald! That is no way to treat a teacher!" Mrs. Weasley scolded.
"But he isn't a teacher Mum!"
A clock chimed somewhere.
"Midnight," said Harry. "We'd better get to bed before Snape comes along and tries to frame us for something else."
For a few days, the school could talk of little else but the attack on Mrs. Norris. Filch kept it fresh in everyone's minds by pacing the spot where she had been attacked, as though he thought the attacker might come back. Harry had seen him scrubbing the message on the wall with Mrs. Skower's All-Purpose Magical Mess Remover, but to no effect; the words still gleamed as brightly as ever on the stone.
"Of course they did," Ginny whispered.
When Filch wasn't guarding the scene of the crime, he was skulking red-eyed through the corridors, lunging out at unsuspecting students and trying to put them in detention for things like "breathing loudly' and "looking happy."
Ginny Weasley seemed very disturbed by Mrs. Norris's fate. According to Ron, she was a great cat lover.
"That wasn't it," Ginny whispered, and to Harry's ears she sounded to the point of tears.
"Ginny. Listen to me." He whispered in her ear. "This was in the past. Did anyone hold it against you? No. Did anyone hate you? No. Was it your fault? No a million times over. So stop blaming yourself all right?"
She sniffed. "Thanks."
"Of course."
"But you haven't really got to know Mrs. Norris," Ron told her bracingly. "Honestly, we're much better off without her." Ginny's lip trembled. "Stuff like this doesn't often happen at Hogwarts," Ron assured her. "They'll catch the maniac who did it and have him out of here in no time. I just hope he's got time to Petrify Filch before he's expelled. I'm only joking -" Ron added hastily as Ginny blanched.
"Honestly Ron, have you no tact?" Hermione asked, shaking her head.
"I've got tact!" Ron protested. "I just choose not to show it."
"Because you don't have any." The twins chorused.
The attack had also had an effect on Hermione. It was quite usual for Hermione to spend a lot of time reading, but she was now doing almost nothing else. Nor could Harry and Ron get much response from her when they asked what she was up to, and not until the following Wednesday did they find out.
Harry had been held back in Potions, where Snape had made him stay behind to scrape tubeworms off the desks. After a hurried lunch, he went upstairs to meet Ron in the library, and saw Justin Finch-Fletchley, the Hufflepuff boy from Herbology, coming toward him. Harry had just opened his mouth to say hello when Justin caught sight of him, turned abruptly, and sped off in the opposite direction.
Harry found Ron at the back of the library, measuring his History of Magic homework. Professor Binns had asked for a three foot long composition on "The Medieval Assembly of European Wizards."
"I'll never understand why he assigns homework when he knows that no one listens to him!" Ron ranted.
"I don't believe it, I'm still eight inches short said Ron furiously, letting go of his parchment, which sprang back into a roll. And Hermione's done four feet seven inches and her writing's tiny."
"Well the homework is quite easy if you pay attention Ronald," Hermione said mockingly.
"Where is she?" asked Harry, grabbing the tape measure and unrolling his own homework.
"Somewhere over there," said Ron, pointing along the shelves. "Looking for another book. I think she's trying to read the whole library before Christmas."
Harry told Ron about Justin Finch-Fletchley running away from him.
"Dunno why you care. I thought he was a bit of an idiot," said Ron, scribbling away, making his writing as large as possible. "All that junk about Lockhart being so great-"
Hermione emerged from between the bookshelves. She looked irritable and at last seemed ready to talk to them.
"All the copies of Hogwarts, A History have been taken out,"
"What!? People are actually reading that book? The world has ended!" The twins cried, alternating sentences.
she said, sitting down next to Harry and Ron. "And there's a two-week waiting list. I wish I hadn't left my copy at home, but I couldn't fit it in my trunk with all the Lockhart books."
"Why do you want it?" said Harry.
"The same reason everyone else wants it," said Hermione, "to read up on the legend of the Chamber of Secrets."
"Of course!" Remus said, slapping a hand to his forehead. "That's where it was from!"
"You knew about it already?" Harry asked, a little put out.
"I remembered reading about the legend and vaguely recall the details, but I couldn't remember where I had read it." Remus said shrugging.
"What's that?" said Harry quickly.
"That's just it. I can't remember," said Hermione, biting her lip. "And I can't find the story anywhere else-"
"Hermione, let me read your composition," said Ron desperately, checking his watch.
"You should really know better than to copy Ronald," Mrs. Weasley said and her husband chuckled.
"Especially since Hermione would never let you," Mr. Weasley added.
"No, I won't," said Hermione, suddenly severe. "You've had ten days to finish it-"
"I only need another two inches, come on-"
The bell rang. Ron and Hermione led the way to History of Magic, bickering.
History of Magic was the dullest subject on their schedule. Professor Binns, who taught it, was their only ghost teacher, and the most exciting thing that ever happened in his classes was his entering the room through the blackboard.
"Hm…it used to be the floor," Remus mused.
Ancient and shriveled, many people said he hadn't noticed he was dead. He had simply got up to teach one day and left his body behind him in an armchair in front of the staff room fire; his routine had not varied in the slightest since.
Today was as boring as ever. Professor Binns opened his notes and began to read in a flat drone like an old vacuum cleaner until nearly everyone in the class was in a deep stupor, occasionally coming to long enough to copy down a name or date, then falling asleep again. He had been speaking for half an hour when something happened that had never happened before. Hermione put up her hand.
"Er…doesn't that happen quite a lot?" Fred asked.
"Yes but she put her hand up in History. Interrupting Binns." Harry said slowly.
Professor Binns, glancing up in the middle of a deadly dull lecture on the International Warlock Convention of 1289, looked amazed.
"Miss - er -?"
"It's amazing how he never knows his students names. You would think that with being a ghost, his memory would have improved."
"Granger, Professor. I was wondering if you could tell us anything about the Chamber of Secrets," said Hermione in a clear voice.
Dean Thomas, who had been sitting with his mouth hanging open, gazing out of the window, jerked out of his trance; Lavender Brown's head came up off her arms and Neville Longbottom's elbow slipped off his desk.
"Oops," Neville said sheepishly and people hid their chuckles out of respect for him.
Professor Binns blinked.
"My subject is History of Magic," he said in his dry, wheezy voice. "I deal with facts , Miss Granger, not myths and legends." He cleared his throat with a small noise like chalk slipping and continued, "In September of that year, a subcommittee of Sardinian sorcerers-"
"But weren't all myths and legends once based on fact?" Those who knew what Hermione had said next that day in class stared at Remus in amazement.
He stuttered to a halt. Hermione's hand was waving in the air again.
"Miss Grant?"
"Please, sir, don't legends always have a basis in fact?"
"It's scary that those two think alike," Ron said and both Remus and Hermione blushed.
Professor Binns was looking at her in such amazement, Harry was sure no student had ever interrupted him before, alive or dead.
"I'm almost certain that no one has," Dumbledore said with a smile.
"Well," said Professor Binns slowly, "yes, one could argue that, I suppose." He peered at Hermione as though he had never seen a student properly before. "However, the legend of which you speak is such a very sensational , even ludicrous tale-"
But the whole class was now hanging on Professor Binns's every word. He looked dimly at them all, every face turned to his. Harry could tell he was completely thrown by such an unusual show of interest.
"Of course, all it took was a petrified cat and some writing on a wall," Ron said, oblivious to the effect his casual words had on his sister. He was also oblivious to the glare Hermione was giving him, but that could have been from practice.
"Oh, very well," he said slowly. "Let me see... the Chamber of Secrets...
"You all know, of course, that Hogwarts was founded over a thousand years ago - the precise date is uncertain - by the four greatest witches and wizards of the age. The four school Houses are named after them: Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw, and Salazar Slytherin. They built this castle together, far from prying Muggle eyes, for it was an age when magic was feared by common people, and witches and wizards suffered much persecution."
"They still did, much into the 1700's until the art of witchcraft was disbanded and people began to lose faith," Remus said.
"No! It's break! We –"
"Shouldn't have to be learning!"
He paused, gazed blearily around the room, and continued.
"For a few years, the founders worked in harmony together, seeking out youngsters who showed signs of magic and bringing them to the castle to be educated. But then disagreements sprang up between them. A rift began to grow between Slytherin and the others. Slytherin wished to be more selective about the students admitted to Hogwarts. He believed that magical learning should be kept within all-magic families. He disliked taking students of Muggle parentage, believing them to be untrustworthy.
"And yet," Hermione said tartly, "Look at who is more hated and is causing more damage in the world. Muggleborns or Slytherins?"
After a while, there was a serious argument on the subject between Slytherin and Gryffindor,
"Is that when the feud started sir?" Remus asked Dumbledore curiously.
The Headmaster nodded. "It is greatly assumed so, yes."
and Slytherin left the school."
Professor Binns paused again, pursing his lips, looking like a wrinkled old tortoise.
"Reliable historical sources tell us this much," he said. "But these honest facts have been obscured by the fanciful legend of the Chamber of Secrets. The story goes that Slytherin had built a hidden chamber in the castle, of which the other founders knew nothing.
"Slytherin, according to the legend, sealed the Chamber of Secrets so that none would be able to open it until his own true heir arrived at the school. The heir alone would be able to unseal the Chamber of Secrets, unleash the horror within, and use it to purge the school of all who were unworthy to study magic."
There were a few shudders around the room, particularly from Hermione and Ginny.
There was silence as he finished telling the story, but it wasn't the usual, sleepy silence that filled Professor Binns's classes. There was unease in the air as everyone continued to watch him, hoping for more. Professor Binns looked faintly annoyed.
"The whole thing is arrant nonsense, of course," he said. "Naturally, the school has been searched for evidence of such a chamber, many times, by the most learned witches and wizards. It does not exist. A tale told to frighten the gullible."
"But if they were not Slytherin's heir, how could they be expected to find what he had hidden?" Remus reasoned out loud.
Hermione's hand was back in the air.
"Sir - what exactly do you mean by the horror within the Chamber?"
"That is believed to be some sort of monster, which the Heir of Slytherin alone can control," said Professor Binns in his dry, reedy voice.
The class exchanged nervous looks.
"I tell you, the thing does not exist," said Professor Binns, shuffling his notes. "There is no Chamber and no monster."
"But, sir," said Seamus Finnigan, "if the Chamber can only be opened by Slytherin's true heir, no one else would be able to find it, would they?"
"Huh," Harry said in surprise, looking between Neville and Ron. "Did either of you think Seamus would be able to think like a teacher?"
"Nope," Ron answered while Neville shook his head. "That could say more for Lupin than it does for Seamus though."
"Nonsense, O'Flaherty," said Professor Binns in an aggravated tone. "If a long succession of Hogwarts headmasters and headmistresses haven't found the thing-"
"But, Professor," piped up Parvati Patil, "you'd probably have to use Dark Magic to open it-"
"Just because a wizard doesn't use Dark Magic doesn't mean he can't , Miss Pennyfeather," snapped Professor Binns. "I repeat, if the likes of Dumbledore-"
"But maybe you've got to be related to Slytherin, so Dumbledore couldn't -" began Dean Thomas, but Professor Binns had had enough.
"That will do," he said sharply. "It is a myth! It does not exist! There is not a shred of evidence that Slytherin ever built so much as a secret broom cupboard! I regret telling you such a foolish story!
"No its not, yes it does, yes there is, and yes you do." Harry answered, ticking off the questions one by one. "Did I get them all?"
"You forgot to mention what's in the Chamber," Remus told him innocently. But unfortunately for him, Harry had his mother's knack for sensing a trap and easily side stepped it.
"Yes I did, didn't I?" Harry answered with a grin. "You'll have to wait and see."
We will return, if you please, to history , to solid, believable, verifiable fact!"
And within five minutes, the class had sunk back into its usual torpor.
"I always knew Salazar Slytherin was a twisted old loony," Ron told Harry and Hermione as they fought their way through the teeming corridors at the end of the lesson to drop off their bags before dinner. "But I never knew he started all this pure-blood stuff. I wouldn't be in his house if you paid me. Honestly, if the Sorting Hat had tried to put me in Slytherin, I'd've got the train straight back home..."
Hermione nodded fervently, but Harry didn't say anything. His stomach had just dropped unpleasantly.
"You should have known that we wouldn't have cared," Hermione told him gently.
"Yeah but after hearing that speech, can you blame me for not telling you?"
Harry had never told Ron and Hermione that the Sorting Hat had seriously considered putting him in Slytherin. He could remember, as though it were yesterday, the small voice that had spoken in his ear when he'd placed the hat on his head a year before : You could be great, you know, it's all here in your head, and Slytherin would help you on the way to greatness, no doubt about that...
"You don't need to be put in a certain house to achieve greatness," Dumbledore said wisely. "That alone depends on your actions and how you live your life."
But Harry, who had already heard of Slytherin House's reputation for turning out Dark wizards, had thought desperately, Not Slytherin! and the hat had said, Oh, well, if you're sure... better be Gryffindor ...
As they were shunted along in the throng, Colin Creevy went past.
"Hiya, Harry!"
"He never stops does he?" George wondered.
Harry shook his head. "He's gotten better over the years really."
"Hullo, Colin," said Harry automatically.
"Harry - Harry - a boy in my class has been saying you're-"
But Colin was so small he couldn't fight against the tide of people bearing him toward the Great Hall; they heard him squeak, "See you, Harry!" and he was gone.
"What's a boy in his class saying about you?" Hermione wondered.
"That I'm Slytherin's heir, I expect," said Harry, his stomach dropping another inch or so as he suddenly remembered the way Justin Finch-Fletchley had run away from him at lunchtime.
"People here'll believe anything," said Ron in disgust.
"Well they weren't far off were they?" Harry said under his breath ignoring the sharp look Remus sent him.
The crowd thinned and they were able to climb the next staircase without difficulty.
"D'you really think there's a Chamber of Secrets?" Ron asked Hermione.
"I don't know," she said, frowning. "Dumbledore couldn't cure Mrs. Norris, and that makes me think that whatever attacked her might not be - well - human."
"Not human?" Remus muttered to himself, frowning as he thought. "But if Slytherin could control it…and he was a…then it would have to be…" Remus frowned again before continuing to muse in his own thoughts.
As she spoke, they turned a corner and found themselves at the end of the very corridor where the attack had happened. They stopped and looked. The scene was just as it had been that night, except that there was no stiff cat hanging from the torch bracket, and an empty chair stood against the wall bearing the message "The Chamber of Secrets has been Opened."
"That's where Filch has been keeping guard," Ron muttered.
They looked at each other. The corridor was deserted.
"Why do I get the feeling that you are going to be poking around and are going to get caught?" Neville wondered aloud.
"Are we really that predictable?" Harry asked in return.
"Yes!" Most of the staff and adults replied.
"Can't hurt to have a poke around,"
said Harry, dropping his bag and getting to his hands and knees so that he could crawl along, searching for clues.
"Scorch marks!" he said. "Here - and here-"
"Come and look at this!" said Hermione. "This is funny..."
Harry got up and crossed to the window next to the message on the wall. Hermione was pointing at the topmost pane, where around twenty spiders were scuttling, apparently fighting to get through a small crack. A long, silvery thread was dangling like a rope, as though they had all climbed it in their hurry to get outside.
Spiders are fleeing from whatever Slytherin hid…what creature do spiders flee from? Obviously its some kind of snake since Slytherin was a Parselmouth, but what exactly? Remus thought to himself. He had the feeling that the answer was on the tip of his tongue, but he couldn't figure it out. Not yet at least.
"Have you ever seen spiders act like that?" said Hermione wonderingly.
"No," said Harry, "have you, Ron? Ron?"
He looked over his shoulder. Ron was standing well back and seemed to be fighting the impulse to run.
"What's up?" said Harry.
"I - don't - like - spiders," said Ron tensely.
Fred and George looked at one another and started to laugh.
"I never knew that," said Hermione, looking at Ron in surprise. "You've used spiders in Potions loads of times..."
"I don't mind them dead," said Ron, who was carefully looking anywhere but at the window. "I just don't like the way they move..."
Hermione giggled.
"It's not funny," said Ron, fiercely. "If you must know, when I was three, Fred turned my - my teddy bear into a great big filthy spider because I broke his toy broomstick... You wouldn't like them either if you'd been holding your bear and suddenly it had too many legs and..."
"Fred Weasley! You did that to your brother?!" Fred recoiled from his mother's anger. "And you laugh about it?!"
"I didn't know he would get that scared of them Mum!" Fred protested, trying to save himself.
He broke off, shuddering. Hermione was obviously still trying not to laugh. Feeling they had better get off the subject, Harry said, "Remember all that water on the floor? Where did that come from? Someone's mopped it up."
"It was about here," said Ron, recovering himself to walk a few paces past Filch's chair and pointing. "Level with this door."
He reached for the brass doorknob but suddenly withdrew his hand as though he'd been burned.
"What's the matter?" Ginny asked, speaking up for the first time since the last chapter.
"What's the matter?" said Harry.
"Aww! They think alike!" Fred and George cooed, much to Ginny and Harry's embarrassment. Hermione just smirked knowingly.
"Can't go in there," said Ron gruffly. "That's a girls' toilet."
"Oh, Ron, there won't be anyone in there," said Hermione standing up and coming over. "That's Moaning Myrtle's place. Come on, let's have a look."
And ignoring the large OUT of ORDER sign, she opened the door.
"Hermione Granger broke a rule?" Fred gasped.
"Someone alert the Daily Prophet!" George agreed.
"Who knows Harry? This young lady might have taken your spot on the front page!"
"Good." Harry said firmly.
It was the gloomiest, most depressing bathroom Harry had ever set foot in. Under a large, cracked, and spotted mirror were a row of chipped sinks. The floor was damp and reflected the dull light given off by the stubs of a few candles, burning low in their holders; the wooden doors to the stalls were flaking and scratched and one of them was dangling off its hinges.
Hermione put her fingers to her lips and set off toward the end stall. When she reached it she said, "Hello, Myrtle, how are you?"
Harry and Ron went to look. Moaning Myrtle was floating above the tank of the toilet, picking a spot on her chin.
"This is a girls bathroom," she said, eyeing Ron and Harry suspiciously. "They're not girls."
"Well spotted," Ron said sarcastically, rolling his eyes.
Ginny and Hermione exchanged looks and decided that they should have a word with Fred and George for Halloween next year.
"No," Hermione agreed. "I just wanted to show them how er - nice it is in here."
She waved vaguely at the dirty old mirror and the damp floor.
"Very true," George agreed.
"Oh Georgie! It's our dream home!" Fred sighed happily.
"Ask her if she saw anything," Harry mouthed at Hermione.
"What are you whispering?" said Myrtle, staring at him.
"Nothing," said Harry quickly. "We wanted to ask-"
"I wish people would stop talking behind my back!" said Myrtle, in a voice choked with tears. "I do have feelings, you know, even if I am dead-"
"Myrtle, no one wants to upset you," said Hermione. "Harry only-"
"No one wants to upset me! That's a good one!" howled Myrtle. "My life was nothing but misery at this place and now people come along ruining my death!"
"We wanted to ask you if you've seen anything funny lately," said Hermione quickly. "Because a cat was attacked right outside your front door on Halloween."
"Did you see anyone near here that night?" said Harry.
"I wasn't paying attention," said Myrtle dramatically. "Peeves upset me so much I came in here and tried to kill myself. Then, of course, I remembered that I'm - that I'm-"
"Already dead," said Ron helpfully.
"Again with the tact," Hermione commented off handedly.
"I have tact!" Ron protested again, but it was only half-hearted.
Myrtle gave a tragic sob, rose up in the air, turned over, and dived headfirst into the toilet, splashing water all over them and vanishing from sight, although from the direction of her muffled sobs, she had come to rest somewhere in the U-bend.
Harry and Ron stood with their mouths open, but Hermione shrugged wearily and said, "Honestly, that was almost cheerful for Myrtle... Come on, let's go."
Harry had barely closed the door on Myrtle's gurgling sobs when a loud voice made all three of them jump.
"What was Mum doing at Hogwarts?" Fred wondered and everyone sniggered at the look on Mrs. Weasley's face.
Percy Weasley
"Oh." Fred said, his smile dropping. "Never mind I said anything."
had stopped dead at the head of the stairs, prefect badge agleam, an expression of complete shock on his face.
"That's a girls bathroom!" he gasped. "What were you -?"
"What did you think I was doing Percy?" Ron asked his older brother seriously, but he was ignored.
"Just having a look around," Ron shrugged. "Clues, you know-"
Percy swelled in a manner that reminded Harry forcefully of Mrs. Weasley.
Percy blushed a bright red and looked down at the table while his mother's eyes grew misty.
"Get - away - from - there -" Perry said, striding toward them and starting to bustle them along, flapping his arms. "Don't you care what this looks like? Coming back here while everyone's at dinner-"
"Why shouldn't we be here?" said Ron hotly, stopping short and glaring at Percy. "Listen, we never laid a finger on that cat!"
"That's what I told Ginny," said Percy fiercely, "but she still seems to think you're going to be expelled, I've never seen her so upset, crying her eyes out, you might think of her , all the first years are thoroughly overexcited by this business-"
"You don't care about Ginny," said Ron, whose ears were now reddening. "You're just worried I'm going to mess up your chances of being Head Boy-"
"No it wasn't his chances at Head Boy Ron," George said shaking his head.
"It was mentioning his family." Fred finished harshly.
"Boys." Remus said quietly and he shook his head, glancing over at Mrs. Weasley who had her head buried in hopes that she wouldn't see her third eldest son ignoring her.
"Five points from Gryffindor!" Percy said tersely, fingering his prefect badge. "And I hope it teaches you a lesson! No more detective work , or I'll write to Mum!"
And he strode off, the back of his neck as red as Ron's ears.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione chose seats as far as possible from Percy in the common room that night. Ron was still in a very bad temper and kept blotting his Charms homework. When he reached absently for his wand to remove the smudges, it ignited the parchment. Fuming almost as much as his homework, Ron slammed The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 2 shut. To Harry's surprise, Hermione followed suit.
"Who can it be, though?" she said in a quiet voice, as though continuing a conversation they had just been having. "Who'd want to frighten all the Squibs and Muggle-borns out of Hogwart's?"
"Gee I wonder who?" Fred grumbled.
"Let's think," said Ron in mock puzzlement. "Who do we know who thinks Muggle-borns are scum?"
He looked at Hermione. Hermione looked back, unconvinced.
"If you're talking about Malfoy-"
"Who else?" Like his brother, George was grumbling.
"Of course I am!" said Ron. "You heard him - You'll be next, Mudbloods!'- come on, you've only got to look at his foul rat face to know it's him-"
"Malfoy, the Heir of Slytherin?" said Hermione skeptically.
"Look at his family," said Harry, closing his books, too. "The whole lot of them have been in Slytherin; he's always boasting about it. They could easily be Slytherin's descendants. His father's definitely evil enough."
"They could've had the key to the Chamber of Secrets for centuries!" said Ron. "Handing it down, father to son ..."
"No," Remus said, shaking his head. "It wouldn't be the Malfoys."
"What makes you say that?" Ron asked.
"They wouldn't do it while one of their own was at the school. Even if they could control whatever is down there, they would more than likely get someone else to do their bidding. They never have direct involvement, that way they can back out at any time with arousing suspicions." Remus answered thoughtfully.
"Well," said Hermione cautiously, "I suppose it's possible..."
"But how do we prove it?" said Harry darkly.
"There might be a way," said Hermione slowly, dropping her voice still further with a quick glance across the room at Percy. "Of course, it would be difficult. And dangerous, very dangerous. We'd be breaking about fifty school rules, I expect-"
"If, in a month or so, you feel like explaining, you will let us know, won't you?" said Ron irritably.
"All right," said Hermione coldly. "What we'd need to do is to get inside the Slytherin common room and ask Malfoy a few questions without him realizing it's us."
"But that's impossible," Harry said as Ron laughed.
"No its not, not without…" Remus trailed off and looked at Hermione. "You didn't."
Against her will, Hermione blushed, giving him all the answer he needed.
"No, it's not," said Hermione. "All we'd need would be some Polyjuice Potion."
"What's that?" said Ron and Harry together.
"Snape mentioned it in class a few weeks ago-"
"D'you think we've got nothing better to do in Potions than listen to Snape?" muttered Ron.
"It transforms you into somebody else. Think about it! We could change into three of the Slytherins. No one would know it was us. Malfoy would probably tell us anything. He's probably boasting about it in the Slytherin common room right now, if only we could hear him."
"This Polyjuice stuff sounds a bit dodgy to me," said Ron, frowning. "What if we were stuck looking like three of the Slytherins forever?"
"It wears off after a while," said Hermione, waving her hand impatiently. "But getting hold of the recipe will be very difficult. Snape said it was in a book called Moste Potente Potions and it's bound to be in the Restricted Section of the library." There was only one way to get out a book from the Restricted Section: You needed a signed note of permission from a teacher."
"Hard to see why we'd want the book, really," said Ron, "if we weren't going to try and make one of the potions."
"I think," said Hermione, "that if we made it sound as though we were just interested in the theory, we might stand a chance..."
"Oh, come on, no teacher's going to fall for that," said Ron. "They'd have to be really thick..."
"Well luckily for you three, you had an extremely thick teacher at the time," Remus said with a chuckle.
"Yeah we did," Harry agreed.
"That's the end of the chapter." Luna said. "Shall we go eat before Ronald complains again?" With a round of laughter at Ron's embarrassment, the large group left for the Great Hall.


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Worrying does nothing.
(Source: milenuts, via mymumthinksimamazing)
Worrying does nothing.
(Source: milenuts, via mymumthinksimamazing)
Happy New Year! :)
I've missed you so much. @___@ wahh.
I'll be fasting Facebook and Tumblr until 2012! Talk to y'all later! Merry Christmas!! God Bless!! :)
goodgirlscarrots replied to your post: College changes people.
The change is however you interpret it. If you have a good, positive mind going into it, you will change for the better! That's what happened to me. :3
And sometimes it's a change I'd like to avoid. :P


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Whenever I hear expressions like "The Muslim World," or "The Arab World," especially when they're used by white non-Muslims, I think of those old science-fiction serials where the title screams across the screen in scary green text, accompanied by ominous music and a male radio broadcaster voice saying "The Muslim World!" Admittedly, I have used these descriptions in college papers and blog posts in the past. Sometimes I used them out of simplicity and other times I used them because I didn't know of any alternatives. I prefer saying "Muslim-majority countries" when referring to groups of countries that have predominant Muslim populations, but also make it a point to critique the Orientalist stereotypes that treat Muslim-majority countries or any Muslim population as monoliths.
I don't like terms like "The Muslim World" or "The Arab World" for a number of reasons. First, it attempts to reinforce generalizations about all Muslim-majority or Arab-majority countries. Rather than acknowledging the complexity and diversity among and within Muslim-majority societies, "The Muslim World" simplifies these differences for the sake of Orientalist narratives and stereotypes. All Muslim-majority countries, according to this label, follow the same rules, laws, norms, lifestyles, beliefs, etc. In the Orientalist imagination, it's like one of those exoticized "New Age" shops you'd find in an American (or Canadian, or British, or Australian, etc.) suburb or city, where everything that "looks Indian or Arab" is showcased and treated "as the same." Yeah, that's racist.
Second, the language itself is absurd. It's too intergalactic for me. Not only are Muslims from different racial and religious backgrounds, but they might as well be a different species. The language is dehumanizing and implies that Muslims are from an entirely different world – that their beliefs and ways of life are completely alien to planet Earth. Meanwhile, western white-majority societies are made out to be the real representatives of human beings on our planet. Ever notice how western science fiction movies, novels, and comic books about alien invasions tend to have white people representing Earth (and if they're not white, they make sure you know that they're American citizens)? Recently, I heard a non-Muslim writer say, "You're right, our site needs more writers from the Muslim world." What is being said here? That a random group of Muslims who happen to be from a number of Muslim-majority countries are going to represent a homogenous "Muslim world"? That if a Muslim writer is based in, say, Lebanon, s/he is going to be an "ambassador" of an imagined "Muslim world"? That Muslims have some kind of shared "home world"? Though sometimes these phrases are used with good intentions, it's important that we examine the language we use (in this case, the language used to describe Islam, Muslims, and Muslim-majority countries) and understand its implications.
Lastly, I don't like these descriptions because of the way they're often used to fuel generalizations and stereotypes that have harmful and deadly effects on real people. "The Muslim world is evil," which means all Muslim-majority countries need to be monitored by the U.S., invaded, occupied, and bombed. The "Muslim world" is characterized as a "dark, treacherous, and violent" place, and this kind of racist demonization maintains white supremacy, policies like racial profiling, hate crimes, and imperialism. If you listen to the hate speech of Islamophobes in the U.S., Canada, Britain, Australia, and other countries, their hostile hatred of "Sharia law" and Muslim immigration sounds like they're warning against an "alien invasion." Muslims, as well as other people of color, are viewed as perpetual "threats" and "uncivilized savages" that need to be cleansed to keep Earth (i.e. the family of white nations) "pure." Yes, people have differences, especially different realities and experiences based on factors like race, gender, class, religion, sexual orientation, and so forth, but I find the manner in which phrases like "Muslim world" or "Arab world" are used are often otherizing and exoticizing. It reminds me of sexist language that asserts "Men are from Mars" and "Women are from Venus," which likens our differences to different planets and claims that we are "stuck in our ways" due to our biology; that we will always fit gendered and racialized stereotypes; that we have always been this way.
A few months ago, I was meeting with a white male administrator at my previous university and the conversation, unsurprisingly, shifted to where I was from. He then talking about how he wanted to visit Egypt and said he wanted to learn Arabic. Then he joked and suggested that maybe I could teach him. I told him I didn't speak Arabic, mostly because Arabic is not spoken by majority of Pakistanis. He looked at me, confused, and said, "Wait, I thought Pakistan was in the Arab world?" As many Pakistanis know, we hear this a lot, so it wasn't utterly shocking. It would be racist to react with disgust to his question because there's nothing wrong with being Arab, of course, so I took a moment and then said, "No, we're on a neighboring world. You know, the planet next to the Arab world." There was an awkward silence and the administrator's face went blank. Then he laughed nervously, "Oh, ha ha ha ha." I laughed genuinely – not with him, but at him. "You see what I did there?" I asked. He nodded and then apologized because he "didn't mean it that way." I then proceeded to explain to him why I find that language silly and offensive. He seemed to understand and said that he would "make a note of that."
Perhaps its a message he can deliver back to The White World, right? :)
11 thoughts on "Planet of the Muslims?"
I love this post. I am a Muslim and an African american. I am asked frequently where I am from, complimented on my good diction, and have even been asked to answer questions on behalf of the "Muslim world". Of course I can not." I've been asked if I'm from "over there". Over there must refer to that Muslim planet.
Jokes aside it is disheartening. I have the ridiculous expectation that we, in this global community, will actually know better. I guess some of is don't have to…
Hi there! Brilliant post as usual!
I was just thinking about how the arab/muslim world concept allows the huge diversity of people who identify as muslims, to be defined by outsiders as the same homogenous group. As you said, it makes no sense to conflate the huge cultural, material, social and political histories and contexts of more than a billion people.
Yet the creation and repitition of this false homogeneity under the umbrella 'Arab world' is important in the context of 9/11 and the military actions of the US and Nato since then. Such a term enables the possiblity of making simplistic claims about 'those people over there' as being inferior, culturally backward or whatever other propaganda and essentialising nonsense, the media and so called political experts would like peddle. If only all muslim countries or people got along with each other and agreed about everything! Things are a lot more complicated than that, but then complicated stories are harder to sensationalize or sell!
At the end of the day the fact is that for all the diversity in the Muslim world, there is still the unity of basic beliefs and attitudes: All Muslims accept the hate and violence in the Quran without question or criticism and all Muslims believe that Mohammad is Allah's greatest (and mostly last) messenger and a great moral example — in spite of the very nefarious deeds narrated in Islam's own histories. That, my friends, make them (Muslims) a very homogeneous group on issues that count, which are not related to race, gender, nationality, language or physical abilities.
So, instead of blaming everybody else for your troubles, Muslims should take a long, hard look at Islam's teachings. Perhaps, who knows, maybe, they will find the source of their problems.
Need a few hints? Ask yourselves if the hundreds of verses in the Quran that denigrate and vilify non-Muslims promote peace and harmony. Now ask if these verses may contribute to the to the way that Muslims treat non-Muslims where they dominate, or to the hostility that Non-Muslims (you know, those "lower than animal" folks) feel towards Muslims (the "best of peoples" ) Or maybe Muslims should consider the practical consequences of their devotion to a man that spent 10 years attaching his neighbors, doing things that if done by non-Muslims would be condemned relentlessly.
or just continue to blame others for your troubles — it is so much easier. Oh yes, use fancy words when you do it.
"At the end of the day the fact is that for all the diversity in the Muslim world, there is still the unity of basic beliefs and attitudes: All Christians accept the hate and violence in the Bible without question or criticism and all Christians believe that Jesus is God's greatest (and mostly last) messenger and a great moral example — in spite of the very nefarious deeds narrated in Islam's own histories. That, my friends, make them (Christians) a very homogeneous group on issues that count, which are not related to race, gender, nationality, language or physical abilities.
So, instead of blaming everybody else for your troubles, Christians should take a long, hard look at Christianity's teachings. Perhaps, who knows, maybe, they will find the source of their problems.
Need a few hints? Ask yourselves if the hundreds of verses in the Bible that denigrate and vilify non-Judeo-Christians promote peace and harmony. Now ask if these verses may contribute to the to the way that Christians treat non-Christians where they dominate, or to the hostility that Non-Christians (you know, those "lower than animal" folks) feel towards Christians (the "best of peoples" ) Or maybe Christians should consider the practical consequences of their devotion to a man that spent 10 years attaching[sic] his neighbors, doing things that if done by non-Christians would be condemned relentlessly.
or just continue to blame others for your troubles — it is so much easier. Oh yes, use fancy words when you do it."
Funny how this post is exactly as accurate when you change the religion of the targets.
You're welcome to stop generalizing, stereotyping & bearing false witness any time, kactuz.
A non-bigoted non-Muslim
Hi. I've definitely been guilty of using the term "Muslim world" or at least thinking in this way. I plan on stopping by again to learn more and to remind myself that 1.2 billion people are too many in number to take such shortcuts in describing in just a sentence or two.
I'm earning an MFA in Creative Writing and worked with other students to create a mock anthology of writers from all over the world writing in prose. I was very surprised at how hard it was to find fiction written by writers from countries in the Middle East and South Asia.
In the anthologies of short fiction I did find, I was surprised to find that many of the writers included were not Muslim and that sectarian concerns were minimal. Researching one project for one class does not make for a very broad education, though, does it?
Can you recommend a novel or two by writers, Muslim or not, who might help reinforce the idea that the Middle East and South Asia are as varied as any other region of the world?
I'm also interested in reading poetry from "other" parts of the world. I do believe that the more "other" material you read, the more "us" there is and the less "other." My only experience to date is with the translations of Rumi and Hafiz made by Coleman Barks and Daniel Ladinsky.


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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
I think the issue with this is the confusion between cant and arent.
Blood elves CAN be druids, EVERYONE can be druids. Mechagnomes can probably be druids (that chick in Ulduar is a construct yet has nature powers).
And there is no necessary lore rewrite to make it so they can be, the issue is that they arent druids.
First of all, there is the issue that Druids are a learned practice. Anyone can use nature magic, anyone can channel power if it exists. However, Druids learn from a specific person how to use that nature in certain ways. How to enter the emerald dream. Its just like a paladin. Anyone can use the holy light, anyone can fight with a sword. But for the past few decades Paladins have been a special Class in the Caste system. A special people with certain education and training and part of an organization. However the FIRST paladins where just warriors who learned the holy light (Uther) or priests that learned how to fight ( i believe Tirion). This is established in Cycle of Hatred. And with RECENT paladins (blood knights) its proved you can be a paladin without any of the faith or reasoning behind it. all you need is a sword and the holy light (and armor i guess).
The reasoning behind race class combos is not "there are none of those" but rather "there arent enough of those to warrant it being playable". I believe this was commented on way back in lich king when we saw the argent crusade, pretty much all races in it, and wondering if they where paladins. It might have been before the massive involvement of blizzard answering questions, so maybe the answer was unofficial. But orcs, gnomes, forsaken can be paladins too (I forget the name of him, but a certain undead member of the Crusade would back me up).
Indeed any troll casters we saw in the field where usually casting either lighting bolt...ooooor shadowbolt. They where either shaman or warlocks. Trolls COULD be warlocks all along. but The Horde doesnt have trolls. It has DARKSPEAR trolls. Those specific and rare trolls COULD be warlocks, but they didnt choose that. However now that they have cloistered themselves off they have gone back to their old ways. Voodoo and dealing with darkspirits. I.E. Warlock (and shadow priest, look it up). Now they are warlocks. There where always BLood elf warriors, but years ago, if you where going to fight you wanted to be sneaky(rogue) or if you wanted to wear heavy armor why not sign up to be a blood knight? there was no reason for it. Gnomes never had a reason to use the light until their dwarf friends showed how useful it is and they found out there is a god(s) and they literally created them. orcs COULD be mages, but most either saw Fel energy as the best source of power, or shamanism as the only good source of power, after years of dealing with mages that dont eat souls they where like "hey we can cast magic without it being evil"
This all applies to druids as well. They can be druids, if someone taught them (all it took was 2 highborne in darnassus to teach night elves how to be mages again). They can be druids but they dont go down that path. Swordsmanship, stealth, The Light, and magical power. These are the values of Blood elves. The only reverence of nature we see in blood elves is in their rangers, and that mostly stems from their rangers living in it, and a general elf love of beauty. Yes i do realize blood elves revere nature a little more than that. but that is not the point.
There is no one to teach them. and there is no reason for a young blood elf to think "i want to be a druid when i grow up"
And that's where the path of the High Botanist Freywinn comes in. He discovered a path through which they can manipulate the nature spirits and channel their nature power. And did it so in a very "highborn" way: dominating it, mastering it, instead of accepting it as master... kinda the same thing they did with the holy light and how the blood knights came to be.
All it takes is that, now that the Tempest Keep is "liberated", some Blood Elf researcher explores the Botanica and finds out what Freywinn did.


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Call 215-248-8800
A family of lawyers, but first a family
It was the first day of school. The year was 1986. Terri was adjusting her 1st-grade uniform. Her big sister, Susie, was wondering if her 6th-grade friends would be in her junior high homeroom. The eldest, Mary Kate, was curious about what the first day of high school would be like.
Alongside the excited sisters stood their mother, who, like her daughters, was starting school that morning. It was the first day of Villanova University Law School for Kate McGrath. She was 40 years old.
Phillies 1st pick, Biddle, 'couldn't ask for anything better'
Roy Halladay better watch out – Jesse Biddle is gunning for his spot.The 18-year-old from Germantown Friends School was drafted as the Philadelphia Phillies number-one pick. And just like that, Biddle donned the jersey of a team he has been watching his whole life.
At 6-feet, 5-inches and 235 lbs. Biddle has had Philadelphia scouts and others watching him throughout his 40-strikeout season in 59 and one-third innings that ended in the Friends School's seventh consecutive league championship, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Friends, family and community members are celebrating this moment with Biddle with congratulations. Biddle lives in Mount Airy with his parents, David and Marion, and his brothers, Sam and Conor.
Power play gets physical at 22nd Ward meeting
The spring Primary Election is usually a time of hope in Mt. Airy. After all, it is a place known for qualities like progressivism, equanimity and compromise. But following the 22nd Ward Democratic Committee's reorganizational meeting on June 7, held at the Germantown Home on Sedgwick Street and Germantown Avenue, some committeepeople were concerned that the local political climate has taken a turn for the worse this year.
'Fresh Artists': Taking student art to the marketplace
"Fill this place with the faces of the children." That was her mandate, given to her by then Philadelphia School District Superintendent Paul Vallas.
When Barbara Chandler Allen, 62, of Lafayette Hill, walked, into the atrium of the 850,000-square-foot building at Broad and Arch street, she had no idea what Vallas had in store for her. Nor could she have known that his edict that day would set her forth on a path to bring entrepreneurism to hundreds of public school children in Philadelphia through Fresh Artists.
Many residents are already familiar with Fresh Artists, although they might not realize it. But if you've been to the new Weaver's Way Co-op on Germantown Avenue and stood in line to check out, you may have noticed the large painting hanging on the upper left wall. It's not actually a painting. The piece of art in the co-op is a reproduction of a high-resolution digital photograph of a 12th grader's painting.


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When the Utah Jazz lost rookie (and lottery pick) point guard Trey Burke for several weeks, it opened up a massive hole in their backcourt. After all, they paid a hefty price for Burke's services and for a team rumored to be "tanking", the cupboard is pretty bare. Bare enough, in fact, that it appears that the Jazz are looking for a little bit of comfort in an old friend.
Jamaal Tinsley's agent, Raymond Brothers, says there is a "mutual interest" in his client's return to the Jazz.
— Steve Luhm (@sluhm) October 15, 2013
News that Tinsley and the Jazz could be reuniting shouldn't surprise anyone. The 35-year-old point guard from Iowa State (by way of Brooklyn) actually started 32 games for Utah last season, and while he certainly didn't blow anyone away, he should be quite familiar with the system that is in place in Salt Lake City.
In 18.5 minutes per game, Tinsley did average 4.4 assists per contest (good for nearly 9 per 36 minutes), and he's been a good distributor (career 6.1 assists in 26.6 minutes) everywhere he has been. Unfortunately, there was never a point where Tinsley could shoot, and he is a career 39% FG and 30% 3-point shooter at this level.
For a team with little to no expectations, they could do a lot worse than Tinsley, and even when Burke comes back, it would be nice for the rookie to have some veteran leadership around. This makes all the sense in the world.


text:
"My notebook is half others and half me, and what I want to make is something in between. I pore and pour alternately, each informing the other, the sides flipping and curling like fortunes on my opening hands."
by Emma Aylor
"And every new year starts out the same way — 'This year will be different.'"
by Allison Leow
"We are part echoes. Reverse of a regular
language, modal logic gisting down the alley.
All night I hear clairvoyance in the foyer, chanting
the lamps full. Onyx, coccyx, ingot of zinc."
by Lindsey Hutchison
"She dreamed her skin
Was made of seaglass, sterling underneath,
That 'sickness' named was just another word
For 'silver,' the oil slick antidote
On her tongue, seeping."
by Claire Friedman
"Sitting there in your armchair,
You may not move, but I know you
by Julia Goodman
I want to nestle; wrestle
honeywasps; drown."
by Meha Semwal


text:
21 days from
- Trek Code:
- Destination:
- Cross Country
- Departs:
- Feb-Dec
- Accommodation:
- Budget Lodging
- Age Range:
- 18-38
- > Visit the Navajo tribal lands in Monument Valley
- > Explore Nashville, Memphis & New Orleans
- > Watch a stunning sunrise over the Grand Canyon
Tour Overview
Travelling cross-country from West to East is synonymous with the original American adventure - the feeling of the open road and the freedom that defines a nation. Take the southern route through sun-drenched San Diego, the mighty Grand Canyon, the exciting neon desert city of Las Vegas and tribal lands of the Navajo in Monument Valley. You'll cross the wild Texan plains to experience Austin's world-renowned nightlife, soak up the southern charm in New Orleans, Nashville and Memphis and see the enormous mountainous spine that is the Appalachian Mountains. Have your fill of history in Washington D.C and finish up your epic trip in the Big Apple itself, New York! Phew!
- Grand Canyon sunrise or sunset
- Las Vegas limousine tour
- Sightseeing in Nashville, Memphis, Austin and Los Angeles
- New Orleans Bourbon Street jazz and blues music
- California's white sandy beaches in San Diego
- Travel along the original Route 66
- Visit Philadelphia's top highlights
- National Parks - Carlsbad Caverns, Monument Valley and Grand Canyon
- Services of a TrekAmerica tour leader
- Private transportation with free Wi-Fi
- All accommodation - 8 hotel, 7 hostel, 3 motel, 1 cabin & 1 guesthouse nights
We use a combination of hostels, hotels and camping cabins on the Southern BLT. Most cabins are multi-share rooms sleeping 4 to 6 people with shared facilities and hostel nights are generally arranged on a single sex, multi-share basis, subject to availability. Where possible we will keep the group together and try to accommodate couples; however twin rooms cannot be guaranteed. A sleeping bag is required on the trip for up to three nights. You can purchase a sleeping bag in Wal-Mart for approx. $30-$50 if you prefer.
You can now check your email and update Facebook, Twitter and TrekAmerica Live while on the road with our wi-fi enabled vehicles. (Maximum 5 users at a time. Fair usage restrictions may apply. Only available in USA).
Our tours are aimed at young international travellers from around the world, aged 18 to 38, all with a sense of fun and a keen desire to explore. If you're travelling alone, don't worry... over 70% of our passengers are solo travellers and you'll soon be surrounded with like-minded people of a similar age who will quickly become your new best mates. Plus there are no single supplements.
Our tour price includes your own tour leader plus all transport and accommodation, so all you have to pay for are food, drinks and optional activities. Take a moment to add up all the costs of doing it yourself, and it soon becomes clear that a TrekAmerica trip offers fantastic value for money!
Read more about TrekAmerica here >
Southern Sun
21 days from LOS ANGELES
See the fast paced east, slow south & wild west on this classic road trip.> Read more
Coast to Coast South
35 days from LOS ANGELES
Experience 14 states across the East, South and West of the USA.
Grand BLT
43 days from NEW YORK AREA
This amazing lodging tours gives you a complete loop of the states.> Read more
Flexible Itinerary
Our routes have been carefully chosen to include the best night stops, highlights, and included experiences, but with lots of optional activities to choose from, stops at some of your leaders favourite places and occasional changes in local conditions no two Trek trips are ever the same so come ready for a unique adventure.
There are loads of exciting optional activities for you to choose from during your trip giving you the flexibility to do the things you want to and leave out the things you don't. Below are the main optional activities for this trip, these can be arranged once you are on tour via your Tour Leader and are paid for locally.
- > New Orleans jazz clubs US$10-$20
- > Mississippi steamboat ride US$60-$70
- > Smithsonian National Museums US$FREE
- > Grand Canyon helicopter flight US$244-$274
- > Tour of Elvis' Graceland in Memphis US$33-$70
- > Navajo guided 4x4 tour of Monument Valley US$45-$55
- > Grand Canyon IMAX theater US$15
- > Las Vegas clubs & casino shows US$10+
- > San Diego Zoo US$44
- > Watersports in San Diego US$10-$75
- > Las Vegas helicopter flight: US$115
- > New Orleans Voodoo & Graveyard tour US$20
- > Bike rental in Washington DC US$15-$35
- > Civil Rights Museum in Memphis US$10
- > Las Vegas rollercoasters US$4-$30
- > Country Music Hall of Fame, Nashville US$24-$35
- > Country Western Saloons in Nashville US$varies
- > Alligator swamp tour, New Orleans US$23-$49
- > Las Vegas Gun Range from US$30
- > Johnny Cash Museum, Nashville US$14
- > Las Vegas VIP Club Tour (includes 4 clubs & limo) US$100
- > Drive-in Cinema, TexasUS$8
- > Get married in Las Vegas (not legally binding) US$221
As this tour departs at 0730 we recommend that you book pre-tour accommodation. Please request hotel details at the time of booking.
This tour also departs from New York area
Day 1-2: Los Angeles & San Diego
Take a tour of 'Tinseltown' starting with a drive through Hollywood to the Walk of Fame and view of the Hollywood sign. Head south to San Diego for some seriously laid back vibes and powder white sand beaches. There's loads to keep you busy in SD, take a visit to San Diego Zoo, show off your skills by renting some rollerblades or a surfboard, or simply don your shades and soak up some rays.
Accommodation: Budget lodging included
Day 3-4: Las Vegas
Las Vegas - the greatest show on earth! Cruise "The Strip" in a super-stretch limo, indulge in an all-you-can eat buffet, take in a show, ride a roller coaster and party the night away in a super-club. If you're looking to flash the cash even more, why not take a helicopter ride along The Strip or change those dollars for casino chips and gamble 'til the wee hours. As the saying goes; 'What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas', so enjoy every last second.
Accommodation: Budget lodging included
Day 5-6: Route 66 & Grand Canyon National Park
En route to the Grand Canyon we'll drive along a section of the original Route 66, stopping at the town of Seligman; a town frozen in time and full of old Americana, so grab a root beer and have a look around! Next up, the Grand Canyon should be on everyone's bucket list and once you've cast your eyes upon the deep canyon landscape you'll understand why. Pack your boots, camera and water and venture into the canyon itself along the Bright Angel Trail to Plateau Point or choose the "bird's eye" view on a scenic helicopter flight. Watching the sun rise or set over the canyon with the colours changing from amber, maroon and red is simply breath-taking.
Accommodation: Budget lodging included
Day 7: Monument Valley
Iconic Monument Valley, used in countless Hollywood Western movies is the most photographed place in America with good reason - but don't be fooled into thinking it's a tourist trap. You can venture well off the beaten track aboard a jeep and let your Navajo guide show off the huge hunks of red rock and share the fables of the sacred lands. Tonight, experience a stunning sunset overlooking the tribal valley and the chance to try the legendary Navajo Taco (if you can finish it that is).
Accommodation: Budget lodging included
Day 8: Santa Fe
With 325 days of sunshine per year and bright blue skies, plus some of the best Mexican food in the USA, Santa Fe won't disappoint. Visit Canyon Road; an area of Santa Fe popular for art galleries, cultural treasures (hand-woven Navajo rugs and Southwestern wood carvings), historic adobe buildings, vibrant restaurants and colourful buildings.
Accommodation: Budget lodging included
Day 9-10: Carlsbad Caverns National Park & Texas
Roswell's International UFO Museum makes for an entertaining stop which lays on the Southwestern charm by the bucket load. Head on to New Mexico and Carlsbad Caverns National Park to explore one of the largest cave systems in the World. Gnarled limestone stalagmites like the Witch's Finger reach upwards, while stalactites in the Bell Cord Room hang from the cavern ceilings. Next, prepare for a big welcome as you enter the Lone Star State, otherwise known as the great state of Texas, the birthplace of Buddy Holly and the world's largest cotton growing region.
Accommodation: Budget lodging included
Day 11-12: Austin, Texas & Louisiana
Austin has exploded as the "Live music capital of the world" and home of great BBQ Tex Mex food. The city is packed with "Texas sized" excitement and is sure to impress with a nightlife which rivals some of the biggest cities in the world. We then say goodbye to Texas and head into bayou country, Louisiana.
Accommodation: Budget lodging included
Day 13-14: New Orleans
Welcome to the country's Deep South, where life moves at a much slower pace. Why not spice up your trip with lip-smacking Cajun and Creole fare, ride a steamboat on the Mississippi River, relax to the sounds of a Jazz or Dixieland band in the French Quarter and join the party on Bourbon Street. New Orleans has more than just incredible tasting food, drink and music to offer. You can take a swamp tour into the alligator habitat of southern Louisiana, and see all sorts of wildlife on the mysterious bayous of Cajun country.
Accommodation: Budget lodging included
Day 15-16: Memphis
Memphis, the Birthplace of the Blues and jazz is next on the list - and what a destination! Strolling along Beale Street must be on your checklist, you'll see influences of Blues and Jazz music everywhere. A visit to the Civil Rights Museum gives you an insight into the history of slavery and the struggles to overcome it. But the top billing has to go to Graceland, former home of 'The King', Elvis Presley.
Accommodation: Budget lodging included
Day 17-18: Nashville & Virginia
Next is Nashville, Tennessee - the shining star of the country music scene. Hit 'The District' - the nightlife hub of Nashville, laze in the city's parks, trawl the malls or learn to line dance. Cowboy boots and sequinned denim anyone? Next, touch down in Virginia, home of the 'spine of America', the Appalachian Mountain Range.
Accommodation: Budget lodging included
Day 19-20: Washington DC
Travel to the Nation's Capital, Washington DC, and the centre for cultural and political history. Want to know a secret? Go undercover at the International Spy Museum. Make tracks to the zoo, and then see where big-hitting political animals shape the nation on a self-guided monument viewing under an evening neon glow. Why not get up early to beat the crowds to the Lincoln Memorial? It makes for some great photos too!
Accommodation: Budget lodging included
Day 21: Philadelphia & New York Area
Leaving the capital behind, drive towards Philadelphia in Pennsylvania where you visit the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, the steps from the Rocky movies, and can have a Philly cheese steak lunch - delicious! Then we head over to New York Area for the end of our cross country adventure. This tour is not scheduled to spend any time in New York City so make sure you book extra hotel nights and explore the sights and sounds of the Big Apple on your own. Splurge along Fifth Ave, hit the top of the Empire State Building, or soak up the trendy, laidback vibe of Greenwich Village before heading home.
This tour ends at approximately 17:00 hrs. We can book you post-tour accommodation at our gateway hotel if required. If you are planning to fly tonight, please do not book a flight that departs before 21:00 hrs.
Book Your Trip Online
- > You only need to pay a 10% deposit or (whichever is greatest)
- > Full payment is due 8 weeks before the tour departure
- > We are an ABTA and ATOL operator offering financial security for our inclusive tours.
- > If you prefer to book by telephone please contact our UK sales office
- > Prices below are land only. Call us on 0333 999 7951 for a flight inclusive quote
- You must have adequate travel insurance to join this trip. See our insurance page or download our insurance tips pdf for more information.
- We highly recommend you book this trip at least 60 days prior to departure. Reservations received within 30 days will be on request and subject to availability of en-route accommodation.
- If your chosen date is not available, this tour also departs from New York area
Status Key
Guaranteed: Tour will definitely operate. Book Now!
Available: Tour will be guaranteed once minimum numbers reached. Book Now!
Limited: Tour is guaranteed with last few seats remaining. Book Now!
Contact Us: Seats may be available. Please contact us.
For 8 or more travellers, we can organise a totally private departure just for you and your group. We can offer you a departure date of your choice on any of our published itineraries enabling friends, families or organizations to enjoy our classic 'Trek' style of travel. Can't find a trip that suits your needs exactly? Let us tailor one of our traditional trips, or even create a bespoke itinerary. We will work with you to plan your adventure and with the benefit of our in depth knowledge we can build you a unique experience within your budgets and bucket lists!
Read more about arranging your Private Group here >
Tour Extras
We've offer a whole range of travel extras with everything from city sightseeing, additional hotel nights, insurance and more so you can organise everything you'll need for your trip in one easy place.
Tours begin and end at designated hotels in the departure and arrival cities, starting at 7.30am (check your tour voucher for exact details) and finishing at around 5pm, so it's a great idea to book a room for the night before and after your tour. You can book hotels either online when you book your tour or by call our sales team.
The Crown Plaza offers a free airport shuttle to Newark Airport and boasts a fully equipped gym, indoor pool and on-site 24 hour dining.
Twin share: per person per night Matched with another traveller of the same sex. Full room: per room per night Single or double room for travellers on the same booking.
LOS ANGELES - THE HACIENDA HOTEL ( to 30-Sep-14 only)
This hotel offers 24 hour complimentary airport shuttle, outdoor pool, spa, fitness centre, restaurant and free wireless internet.
Twin share: per person per night Matched with another traveller of the same sex. Full room: per room per night Single or double room for travellers on the same booking.
LOS ANGELES - CUSTOM HOTEL (from 01-OCT-14)
This full service hotel close to LAX offers a sun deck/pool and 5 social lounges. Perfectly located for Santa Monica & Venice Beach.
Twin share: per person per night Matched with another traveller of the same sex. Full room: per room per night Single or double room for travellers on the same booking.
TrekAmerica's specialist flights department can offer UK customers a great airline fare to all of our Trek destinations.
We have preferred contracts with many international carriers and have secured some of the most competitive prices in the industry. We are also ATOL protected and IATA licensed.
Special offers are regularly available, so call us now on 0208 682 8920 or click below to request a flight quote by email.
> Request a flight quote now
Before you join your tour you must be covered by adequate travel insurance.
TrekAmerica can offer you comprehensive travel insurance which is completely tailored for your trip and is specially designed to include all the activities listed we do.
See our insurance page or download our insurance tips pdf for more information.
Our range of 3 - 4 day Mini Adventures are perfect for extending your tour and experiencing a few more of North America's most incredible 'must see' highlights. Check out the following adventures relevant to this tour.
> Scenic Drive through the Delaware Water Gap/Poconos
> Finger Lakes hiking & swimming
> Niagara Falls and the Maid of the Mist scenic boat cruise
> College town of Ithaca, NY
> Woodbury Common Outlet Mall
> View Mini Adventure
If you're spending extra nights in our gateway cities before or after your trip, then make the most of your time by pre-booking a unique city sightseeing tours or experience before you go.
- Choose from unique city tours led by local experts who are dedicated to taking you behind the scenes, flexible hop on hop off bus tours or a range of unique city experiences.
- > View City Tours
Photo Gallery
Click any image below to view in an enlarged gallery.
TrekAmerica Live Reviews
Read the latest Southern BLT reviews below, powered by our community website - TrekAmerica Live.
Check out TrekAmerica Live to read all reviews and view photos, forums and Google maps for this trip.
Been on this trip? Leave a review here


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The most impressive thing to me about this 20 city anti-bullying symposium is that it came to fruition as a result of a 17-year-old girl speaking up and a multi-billion-dollar company listening.
Read Whole Story
The power of one person can affect the many. And if you're doubting it, just turn your attention to Cali Linstrom, the 17-year-old high school student who, this week, addressed Abercrombie & Fitch executives in person in the aftermath of last week's significant protest.
This coming Monday May 20th, a HUGE protest was planned outside of the Abercrombie & Fitch headquarters in New Albany, Ohio.
I want to share with you the article that Roger did on me in the Chicago Sun-Times that literally changed my course as a filmmaker.
Shortly after the Tour de France, I was invited to do a long bike ride with Bradley Wiggins in his hometown in England. It was called my Ride with Brad.
At first glance, Darryl Roberts is an unlikely advocate for healthy living. By America's standards (and recent "fat" guidelines, as he calls them) Rob...
If we could institutionalize your great message of exercise and eating a balanced meal, instead of dieting and focusing on losing weight, millions of people would be empowered to become healthy in a realistic way.
The war on childhood obesity has been waging for some time now, but the battle over the best plan of attack is coming to a head this week. Why now?
Our teens are growing up in a world where they have already decided that they are ugly and nothing can sway them from that "reality".
The images in Ralph Lauren's ads are linked to the promotion of eating disorders. They perpetuate the illusion that only when you achieve "thinness" will you be beautiful, adored and loved.
While touring with "America The Beautiful," Darryl Roberts says he has met more than 100,000 young women, the vast majority of whom have eating disorders or think they are ugly.
Documentary filmmaker Darryl Roberts's boycott against Ralph Lauren is hardly showing any signs of malnutrition.
In the wake of their gross transformative photoshopping fiasco, indie filmmaker Darryl Roberts is calling for Ralph Lauren to explain and apologize to women everywhere.
The proposed MTV show, Model Maker aimed to take 15 young women and turn them into high fashion models by forcing them to lose weight. Sounds disturbing, doesn't it?
While trying to cash in on America's impressionable youth, you are edging closer and closer to absolute moral and ethical bankruptcy.
Get top stories and blogs posts emailed to you each day.


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Teresa Newcomb Godyn, or "Tree", 37, peacefully passed away in her sleep in Lake Stevens, WA on January 16, 2012. Tree was born in French Camp, CA, on May 21, 1974.
Tree possessed a vibrant and energetic personality. She had a magical way of connecting with people and knew how to draw the best, the beautiful, the self-worth of a soul in everyone she met. She held a quick-witted humor that few can match, had a great love for music and took joy in singing, often with family and friends.
Tree obtained her education in the medical field, and took great pride in her photography, where she possessed an extraordinary ability of capturing many precious life events and boosting women's confidences. Her sudden passing is a great loss to her family, friends and community. "Some people come into our lives and quickly go, some stay for a while, leave footprints on our hearts, and we are never the same."
Tree is survived by her husband, Stan; children, Avery, Zayne, Travler and Sasha; parents, Dwight Newcomb and Sunny Mosley; grandmother, Velma Patterson; siblings, Beau Woodward and Stacey Dahlberg; uncles and aunts, Lloyd Simpson, Shanna Christ, Greg Fincher, Patricia Baker; cousins, Jason Simpson, Tiffanie Simpson Iorg and Zachary Simpson; and many family members throughout Utah, Nevada, Idaho and New York.
A Viewing will be held on Thursday, January 26, 2012 from 10:00 to 3:30 p.m., at Solie Funeral Home, 3301 Colby Avenue, Everett, WA.
A Celebration Memorial will follow from 5:00 - 8:00 p.m. at the Weyerhaeuser Room in the Everett Train Station, 3201 Smith Avenue, also in Everett.
Teresa's final resting place occurs on Saturday, February 4, 2012 in St. George, Utah, with a memorial luncheon to follow.


text:
Build your own Siri Application … in the browser!
I have emerged myself recently in Voice driven applications and was asked to knock up a quick prototype of something "that looks and acts like Siri". That's a pretty tall order I though but after some research I came up with the following…
The first problem we have to solve is Speech Recognition, i.e. convert the voice data into text. The data would have to be streamed to a server which then performs the actual recognition and sends back a string of what it thinks you said. That's some complicated stuff right there. Voice recognition is a science in itself and I also did not want to have to deal with the server setup. Luckily for me, it turns out that Google has build all of this stuff into their Chrome browser already courtesy of the HTML 5 Speech Input API. All you have to do is add a special attribute to an <input> and it will allow users to simply
"click on an icon and then speak into your computer's microphone. The recorded audio is sent to speech servers for transcription, after which the text is typed out for you."
Sounds about right to me, first problem solved!
The second challenge is to extract meaningful information from the text to understand what the users wants you to do. When the user says "What is the weather forecast for tomorrow", you have to figure out, from this string that the user … well … wants to see the weather forecast for tomorrow. If this is the only case your application has to handle, it's pretty easy:
if utterance =~ /.*weather forecast.*/ig
return "warm"
return "I don not know what you mean, try asking again (e.g. what is the weather forecast for tomorrow)"
But also pretty useless.
Clearly you could not write a case statement big enough that could handle all possible scenarios or even a fairly limited scenario, e.g. what would happen if the user asks "Show me the forecast of the weather", not to mention "Is is going to rain tomorrow?". You can see that this processing of natural language can get fairly complicated very quickly. As it it turns out, this is another field of science (Natural Language Processing or NLP) that people much smarter than myself have worked on for decades. One example of a website that uses NLP to answer questions is wolframalpha. And guess who uses wolframalpha … that's right: Siri. So if it is good enough for Apple, it's certainly good enough for my prototype so I registered for a developers licence with them and that was it (I suggest you do the same if you want to follow this article). Now I just needed to hook up everything, I'm going to create a Rails application to do just that.
It will be a very simple application with 1 page that has 1 form on it. This form in turn will have 1 field on it that can be used by the user to "enter" their question. To support voice entry, I will add the required attribute ("x-webkit-speech") to this input field. To further emphasis the fact that this is a voice driven application, I am going to style the input field:
Using the following CSS:
Furthermore, that same page will have an area that displays the data: what the user says and what wolframalpha returns as the answer. We call this the stream and represent it as in ordered list, which gives us the following (using HAML):
Incredibly simple! The user presses on the microphone and starts talking. When he stops talking, Google processes the voice data and returns a text representation (actual it returns several, ranked in decreasing order of "correctness", we just always use the top result). It inserts the text into the Text Field on which the voice was triggered, essentialy Chrome fills in the form for us with the transcribed voice data. This is all handled by chrome, we do not have to do anything for this to work.
When the result comes back from google, chrome also raises a JS event that we can listen for. We will use this to trigger an AJAX call to WolframAlpha, passing in the received text, i.e. we automatically submit the form to process_speech. process_speech is a controller method that handles the call to WolframAlpha (I am using the Faraday gem). When we receive an answer from WolframAlpha, we attach this to the stream (in coffeescript):
And that is it really, some more CSS and more coffeescript to make it look pretty and you are good to go: Siri in the browser in less than 150 lines of code. I haven't had a chance yet to clean up the code so it's not public yet on github, but here's a video showing the end result.


text:
Buddypress possible bug
Since the upgrade to 1.6.1 I have had a couple of my members say that the website is not working properly.
I have tested it and I have the same issues
1.) Blog import functionality (using a plugin) seems a bit hit and miss, but more importantly
2.) Private messaging, replying to threads it only seems to let Admin reply, if I try and reply as a normal user (author level) it just replicates the homepage in the place where the message is meant to be. It's very strange indeed.
Is there anywhere where I can download an older version of wordpress to timetravel back and check to see if it's the upgrade, or something else playing with the functionality!!?
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.


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Was £100.00
Now £30.00
Now £25.00
75% Off
Save a total of £75.00
Standard Delivery
Click & Collect
International Delivery
Turquoise Grecian necklace babydoll dress
Item No.0080105312
This turquoise babydoll dress is a stunning party dress from Debut with silver chain adorning its tied halter neckline and loose box pleats in sheer chiffon along its padded bust. It fastens with a discreet concealed side zip.
- Shoes: stylist's own
- Model height: 173cm/5'8"
- Back length: 107cm/ 42
- Concealed back zip fastening
- Shell: 100% polyester
- Lining: 100% polyester
- Dry clean only
Deliveries are between 8am - 6pm, Mon - Sat.
FREE if you pay with your Debenhams card
FREE delivery on all orders over £30 (normally £3.99)
Deliver to store for collection ( 160 participating stores ) FREE
International Delivery £7.00 to £15.00
Debenhams is happy to exchange or refund your purchase within 28 days providing the goods are in a fully resaleable condition (including tags) and not within the exclusion policy*. This policy does not affect your statutory rights. You can return unwanted items either by visiting your local store (the fastest way to get a refund), by arranging a courier collection or returning by post. Exclusions apply to selected products. For instructions on how to return products and information on Debenhams refund policy visit the returns and refunds section of the website.


text:
Here are my Top 5 SEO providers in Denver, CO in no particular order.
by: Sean Hakes [hakes.co]
Phone: 720-940-9056
1. JEMSU [www.jemsu.com]
Location: 940 Lincoln St #102, Denver, CO 80203
Phone: 720-545-1555
2.) Colorado SEO [www.coloradoseo.com]
Location: 3773 Cherry Creek Dr N #575 Denver, CO 80209
Phone: (303)-990-5934
3. C1 Partners [www.c1-partners.com]
Location: 3773 Cherry Creek North Drive Suite 575 Denver, CO 80209
Phone: 855-754-1445
4. Volume 9, Inc. [www.v9seo.com]
Address: 1660 S Albion St #800, Denver, CO 80222
Phone: (303) 955-5228
5.) Creative I Marketing [www.creativeimarketing.com]
Phone: (720) 443-4001
Written by: Sean Hakes
SEO Expert & VelocityRadio.fm Owner
Hello all. My name is Sean Hakes, I'm the Owner of Velocity Radio and an industry SEO veteran with well over 13 years of experience leading the online marketing efforts for some of today's largest brands online.
Over the years I've owned, operated and sold 3 SEO firms and though I no longer sell SEO services, I'm still very active in the business and work diligently on my own personal businesses while helping small business owners like you, cut through the mess, save money and find quality local providers you can trust.
I feel that more often then not, small business owners contact me because they've lost thousands of dollars on SEO campaigns that either backfire resulting in penalties from Google, or there's no performance because there's literally nothing being done to bring up your rankings however, SEO providers will be more then happy to take your money.
Over the years, I've found a handful of SEO companies that I personally trust. These are companies who have constantly delivered great results while providing fantastic customer service.
Here are some things I look to quality for my Top 5 SEOs list.
If you still can't find the right SEO, you're more then welcome to call me at 720-940-9056 and I'd be happy to help you with your search at no cost to you.
Hiring a search engine optimization professional can seriously change your business whether it be for the better or worse. As a small business owner, it's your obligation to educate yourself enough about the basic fundamentals of SEO so that you make the best decision for your business as you can.
Because of its popularity, search engine optimization is becoming a service that just about everyone is offering regardless of their experience or understanding costing the small business community millions a year in loss revenue — educate yourselves.
Here are a few helpful resources to help guide yourself through the maze of SEO.


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Waupaca Golf Vacation Rentals(21)
21 Results
Recent Waupaca Reviews
Family and Friends
This place is perfect for a family or friend gathering. Plenty of things to do and plenty of space. We will surely book again!
Great Cabin
Really really nice place, good times were had by all. Would definitely rent again.
Our stay was wonderful!
This is such a unique and special place - one of the original cottages on the lake and probably one that has the most character! The 3 buildings are so neat -- the main house/cottage (bldg 2 picture) has 2 bedrooms/kitchen/bath/porch/deck. We slept & ate there and found it perfect - it was clean, the bed was very comfortable, it had all the necessities we needed. They even had a few DVD's if you forget yours. Bldg 1 we spent one night enjoying the old bar setting and listened to the Badger football game on the radio. It was so relaxing and had such great energy. It would be a great gathering place for a bigger group. Bldg 3 is an adorable "guest room" that has 2 beds - would be a great spot for kids or a third couple. There were only 2 of us so we didn't take full advantage of all of the "buildings" but we loved it just the same. We rented a pontoon boat at Dings Dock that is really close and easy to get to/from by car and by boat We kept it on the pier and loved exploring the chain of lakes. We didn't spend much time in the water but recommend swimming off the end of the dock as near shore it's a little muddy (but the water is crystal clear). There is also a shared swim raft you can use. If you are looking for a special place with history and can appreciate some level of "rustic" - this place is for you. It was absolutely wonderful!!!!