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This is TALK OF THE NATION. I'm Neal Conan in Washington. The recession and the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico hit New Orleans hard, and that was after Katrina. The population has yet to return to pre-hurricane levels. Some houses lie empty, some properties abandoned, and the city continues to suffer from crime and unemployment.
But New Orleans does know how to throw a party. The Big Easy hosted nine million visitors in 2012 alone and events like the Super Bowl, the NCAA championship games, Mardi Gras and most recently Jazz Fest. This year's lineup included big names like Billy Joel, Patti Smith and of course local favorites. The fairgrounds were packed.
Music, food and nightlife are a big part of the city's recovery. Call, tell us, what's your postcard from New Orleans? 800-989-8255 is our phone number. Email firstname.lastname@example.com. You can also join the conversation on our website. Go to npr.org. Click on TALK OF THE NATION.
Later in the program, China's accused again of Internet hacks, this time by the Pentagon. But first we continue our series and look ahead today with Gwen Thompkins, who has joined us from time to time from her native New Orleans, and she returned from work here at NPR in Washington and then a stint as our East Africa correspondent. She's at the studios of member station WWNO, and Gwen, always good to have you on the program.
GWEN THOMPKINS, BYLINE: Hi Neal, it's so nice to hear your voice, actually.
THOMPKINS: It is. You know, I've talked to you in so many different places around the world, you know, from the jungles of Congo to, like, my house like right after Katrina and, you know, right before the hurricane last year, Hurricane Isaac. I feel like, I don't know, we go way back.
CONAN: We do go way back.
CONAN: We also of course knew each other when you were an editor here on Scott Simon's show on Saturday mornings. But I have to ask you: How is your neighborhood doing and New Orleans?
THOMPKINS: New Orleans is doing all right, actually. The neighborhood's doing all right. The last time you and I spoke in my neighborhood, it was completely barren. I had just gone in after the water retreated from my house, I got nine feet of water in my neighborhood, Pontchartrain Park. And I told you I could run buck naked down the street, and nobody would ever seen me because there really wasn't anybody around.
I mean, there weren't even birds. But now we've got birds, we've got trees, we've got bushes, we've got flowers. We don't have as many neighbors as we used to have, and I think that that's true of the whole city, but people are coming back, and people are moving in, new people every day. And one of the big draws, of course, of the new people coming in is this very nice young man who's sitting next to me.
CONAN: We'll talk to him in just a minute, but you go ahead.
THOMPKINS: I'm so excited. So yeah, we have - we have a lot of people coming in and moving in, in large part drawn to New Orleans for opportunity, believe it or not, you know, particularly in the arts. And, you know, I'm hearing about musicians who are moving in, producers, engineers as well. And, you know, I think that this is still a period of optimism.
Even though the city is experiencing the economic downturn just like every other city in the United States, I mean, small businesses are having a really hard time. You know, musicians, let's face it, are having a really hard time in this town and in others. So, you know, it's - you have to take the - growth never happens - nothing ever moves forward in one straight line, you know.
You know, it's - some areas spurred, and some areas sputtered. And, you know, right now I guess for the city, the big issue is to really find a way to help small businesses and to, you know, I mean, and to encourage the local economy. In the meantime, you know, as you said in your intro, I mean, we are, you know, we are really betting everything we have, it seems, on our tourism industry and the ability to mount these extraordinary, spectacular, national and international events, you know, the Super Bowl, these NCAA championships, as you say, Mardi Gras and now, you know, the Jazz Festival, which is just a delightful two weeks in our lives.
You know, and during - I mean last year alone, it's believed that 450,000 people came to the Jazz Festival, came to the fairgrounds here in New Orleans. And a lot - most of those people are from out of town. I mean, the ticket price is pretty high.
THOMPKINS: They're the ones who can afford it, you know. But when you think about it, that is the population of Miami. It's like Miami came to your house for dinner. OK, you're like hello Miami, you know, hello Minneapolis. You know, this is how big the crowd, you know, the crowd. And I think this year really was no different even though there was a lot of rain during that first weekend.
People came and danced in the rain and danced in the mud and, you know, pulled out their mud fashions, you know, their boots and, you know, shrimp boots, and there are all sorts of things that looked like they could float and sail through mud.
THOMPKINS: And I mean, Dave Matthews, for instance, I mean the man played in a downpour. It was amazing, you know, and, you know, Patti Smith, you know, it was really extraordinary, as well as local acts, you know, like Hurray for the Riff Raff. They played in the rain, and they played in the morning, and very few people in New Orleans, at least born in New Orleans, want to get out in the morning and see some music. And that place was packed, you know, with Hurray for the Riff Raff fans.
CONAN: Well, Gwen Thompkins mentioned the nice young man sitting next to her. He's Troy Andrews, better known to many as Trombone Shorty, of course a musician and New Orleans neighbor. He's there at WWNO, as well. Good to have you back on TALK OF THE NATION.
TROY ANDREWS: Hey, thank you for having me.
CONAN: And before we get to Jazz Fest and to the future of the music scene there and that cultural bet that Gwen Thompkins talked about, as a musician, what is your experience of New Orleans like after the recession, after the oil spill and course still after Katrina?
ANDREWS: Well, to me I think the music is the heartbeat. So a lot of people like to get away from things like that, and they'll come support the music. If it's a second liner in the street, they'll scrape up $5, $10 to come in the club. The music is the heartbeat. So - and people are very supportive of us and want to make sure that the music stays alive. And like you said, New Orleans throws a big party, and the music leads the party.
So it's been OK for me because I've been traveling around the world more than I've been home. So whenever I come, I try to help out some of the local musicians that's up and coming. I'll give them an opportunity to play in front of my fans that fly down from around the world to see us in town. And it's been comfortable me.
So it gets harder at times, but we all stick together and reach out to one another, and if someone has a gig in town, and we might add some different people from other bands to our band, just so we can all make sure that everyone in the music community is OK.
CONAN: That's a brotherhood and a sisterhood.
ANDREWS: Yeah, definitely.
CONAN: Well, let's get some callers in on the conversation. If New Orleans has bet its future on its culture, music, its food, its events, what's your postcard from your visit to New Orleans? 800-989-8255. Email firstname.lastname@example.com. Morgan's(ph) with us from Virginia.
MORGAN: Hello, how are you?
CONAN: Good, thanks.
MORGAN: So I just drove back yesterday, all day, 14 hours, from New Orleans all the way back to Virginia. I had a wonderful time. I came in on Thursday night for the second weekend of Jazz Fest, saw Maroon 5, saw you, Trombone Shorty. Shorty, you were so awesome Saturday, it was - or on Sunday, excuse me. It was fantastic. The weather was beautiful.
I've never been to a Jazz Fest in more beautiful weather, by the way. It's always either 90 degrees or raining, and it was neither this weekend. It was great. Let's see, I lived - I lived in New Orleans for four years while I was in the Navy. I was stationed over on the West Bank, in Algiers, and sometimes I worked over on East Bank on Dauphine Street.
The city is really coming back. I love driving through mid-city, Tulane Avenue has absolutely exploded. There are buildings going up everywhere. You've got the new cancer research center, you've got the new VA hospital being built. Tulane Avenue is exploding. It's just - it's wonderful. And of course I always love going to Parkway and getting a great, true, pulled roast beef and fried shrimp po' boy. I mean, the food, the music truly is the heartbeat. It was just a wonderful, wonderful weekend. So...
THOMPKINS: Morgan, come back.
MORGAN: I know. I want to move back so bad, so bad. I just finished massage school, and my fiance is an engineer, and I would love to move back to the city. I absolutely love it down there. It's just such an amazing city, and rain or shine or, you know, death and destruction and winds and hurricanes and oil and terrible, terrible things, and people go out, and they dance, and they sing, and they do not stop. I have never experienced anything like it anywhere else I've ever been, so...
CONAN: Morgan, it sounds like you had a terrible time.
MORGAN: It was awful, God, oh jeez Louise, it was terrible, never going back. No, I try and go back every year.
CONAN: Thanks very much for the call.
MORGAN: All right, have a good day.
CONAN: Appreciate it, glad you made it home safely. And Gwen, she mentioned that Trombone Shorty played Sunday, on the last day of Jazz Fest, and that is emblematic of a change.
THOMPKINS: That's a huge change in this town. I mean, you know, the Jazz Festival has been going on since 1970, and there have been three main acts that have finished the festival. One was Professor Longhair, who unfortunately died in 1980. Then came The Radiators, who broke up last year. And then thirdly was the Neville Brothers.
And the Neville Brothers, you know what I mean, have been the draw of Sunday evening on the last Sunday evening of the festival for, I don't know, 30 years, let's say, and maybe 40, I can't add.
THOMPKINS: What we lack in mathematical ability we make up with in charm. But the thing is - but Trombone Shorty took over the stages that the Neville Brothers usually play on Sunday, and I'm telling you I'm not - this was not just about outside people, tourists coming in and saying I've got to hear Trombone Shorty. This was about New Orleaneans coming out and seeing one of their own and seeing a man who - I'm telling you when he walks down the street, everybody notices.
They may not run up to him because we're cool like that, you know, in New Orleans, but everybody knows when Trombone Shorty walks in because he is beloved here and for good reason because I'm telling you, he deserves that stage for the next 30 years.
CONAN: What was it like for you, Troy, to succeed to that post?
ANDREWS: Oh, it was very emotional, you know. I grew up playing the Neville Brothers. Cyril Neville is like my uncle, and he's invited me on that stage many years since I was maybe 12 years old and up until last year. So for me to be able to take it over, it was a dream come true, and I'm just happy that I was able to do it.
It's really - I still can't believe it yet. You know, everybody keep telling me about it, but it hasn't hit me yet. You know, I walked out onstage, and I'm like uh-oh, it's finally here.
ANDREWS: And I'm like I don't know what to feel or think, but I just went out there and tried to do my best and represent the great city of New Orleans and carry on the tradition. But, you know, it's still emotional to me that I was able to do that, and I'm just happy that we were able to do it.
CONAN: Troy Andrews, aka Trombone Shorty; and Gwen Thompkins with us from WWNO, our member station in New Orleans. We want to hear your postcard from that city, 800-989-8255. Email firstname.lastname@example.com. Stay with us. It's the TALK OF THE NATION from NPR News.
CONAN: This is TALK OF THE NATION from NPR News. I'm Neal Conan. Today we're looking ahead at what's coming up for New Orleans with Troy "Trombone Shorty" Andrews and Gwen Thompkins. Gwen used to report and edit for NPR. For the better part of a year, she's been hosting "Music Inside Out" for member station WWNO in her hometown. Here's a little a taste from an interview she did with singer-songwriter John Boutte about tackling songs normally sung by female artists.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: (Singing) And I can make it seem better for a while.
THOMPKINS: So John Boutte, what do you hear when you hear her singing that song?
JOHN BOUTTE: I hear crying, you know, trying to say that she is somebody, you know. And it's just a very emotional song, and...
THOMPKINS: You have tears in your eyes. I do, too, don't be ashamed.
BOUTTE: No, I don't.
CONAN: Gwen Thompkins with John Bouttee on "Music Inside Out." You can find a link to Gwen's show at our website. Go to npr.org, click on TALK OF THE NATION. If you've visited New Orleans, we want to hear from you. What's your postcard from your trip, your essential New Orleans experience? 800-989-8255. Email is email@example.com. Ellen(ph) in Mission Hills, Kansas, sent us an email.
Just returned from the second Jazz Fest weekend late last night. I have to tell you that last Thursday, while I was waiting in line to get on my flight for Louis Armstrong Airfield, I picked out of the crowd a man in shorts and sandals carrying his aluminum folding a chair, not wrapped in its holder, just folded up, and he was wearing a sport coat over his T-shirt.
I tapped him on the shoulder and said Jazz Fest and Commanders, am I right? And he smiled the way we do when we're on our way back to New Orleans, and he said check and check.
CONAN: It was a mud fest of nothing but good times. Everyone was nice to everyone else, and Irma Thomas brought several people to - several thousand people to complete silence when she spoke of overcoming her bout with cancer, then sang Dylan's "Forever Young" on the always best day of Jazz Fest, local Sunday bliss. I love New Orleans, consider myself not a tourist but a regular out-of-towner, a phrase I did not make up but borrowed.
CONAN: So that is - that's another great experience, and...
THOMPKINS: Wow, that's great.
ANDREWS: That's great, yeah.
CONAN: Troy Andrews, you noted when you mentioned earlier you spent a lot of time out of New Orleans these days. What is it like coming home?
ANDREWS: It's great, you know. My entire city keeps up with me wherever I am around the world. And they just want to make sure that I'm doing OK, and I'm continuing to grow as a person. And it's just a beautiful thing to be able to come back to the city and play and also come back to my family. And it's always really exciting.
You know, we're on the road, I do at least 200 dates a year or close to it. So when we come back home, it's always a big homecoming, and everybody's trying to see what we're doing, and the love that we get, you know, I don't think we can match that anywhere in the world. But it's just great, you know, to be able to play around and come back home. And it gets bigger and bigger and bigger, and I'm just very grateful for the support that I get from my city.
THOMPKINS: It's true, I mean, Neal, it's - you know, people should - I'm sure most people already know this, but, I mean, Troy Andrews is not just Troy Andrews.
THOMPKINS: Troy Andrews represents a family tradition in this town that, I mean, goes far back to the beginnings of New Orleans R&B. I mean, he is descended from Jessie Hill, I mean, the great R&B artist, you know...
ANDREWS: "Ooh Poo Pah Doo."
THOMPKINS: "Ooh Poo Pah Doo," exactly, Jessie Hill. And, you know, this whole town is sort of populated by familial dynasties and clans. You know, when I was in Somalia many years ago, people, you know, were trying to explain to me about the clan situation there and how, you know, I mean, everything's worked out by the family clans. And I thought, hell, I left New Orleans for this?
THOMPKINS: I mean because they're like the Marsalises, they're the (unintelligible), you know. There are the Jordans, you know what I mean.
ANDREWS: The Nevilles.
THOMPKINS: The Nevilles of course, you know, yeah, the 13th Ward.
ANDREWS: Yeah, definitely.
THOMPKINS: Exactly, and so all of these families are representing the best of New Orleans, and they do so generationally. And so Troy has cousins who are here and, you know, siblings here who are really, you know what I mean, carrying on the tradition even when he is away, and that's what's so exciting, you know. That's what's so exciting.
And the truth is I really want him to come on my show. So, you know, I'm sorry you played the clip of our show when our guest was crying, John Boutte, because I don't want him to get scared and think I'm going to try to make him cry on my...
CONAN: Well, we'll play another clip from your show, and this one might be a little more inviting. You interviewed the drummer Shannon Powell and talking about - he's an old-timer - and talking about, well, he gets so tired of life on the road. Trombone Shorty would know nothing about this, that in fact he brings his own hot plates.
SHANNON POWELL: If you know how to cook, you know, you bring a little hot plate on the road. I had two of them.
THOMPKINS: Wow.
POWELL: I like to travel with my pots and my drum case and my travel case, and I've been known to get out, put out of many hotels.
THOMPKINS: Really? With your hot plate?
POWELL: Yeah, for cooking, yeah.
THOMPKINS: You're cooking, and you're cooking.
POWELL: Yeah, the maid would smell it in the hallway, and she'd be like what's going on in there. I said nothing, I said I just come from the store. She said no, you're cooking in there.
THOMPKINS: Nailed you, (unintelligible).
CONAN: That's Shannon Powell on...
ANDREWS: I'll have to try that.
THOMPKINS: Yeah, he smothered chicken. He made potato salad on the road. Who makes potato salad in a hotel room? Where he can find the ice?
CONAN: Well, Gwen Thompkins has a good time, as you can hear, on her new show "Inside Out."
THOMPKINS: We're "Music Inside Out."
CONAN: "Music Inside," and I was going to ask you, Gwen, you were talking a little bit about some of the reporting you did in East Africa. You're now spending a lot of time on music. These are - what is it like making that transition?
THOMPKINS: You know, it's not as difficult as you might think, you know, because in a way, you know, you can look at music as just, you know what I mean, you know, shaking your groove thing or moving your backfield or whatever, keeping your backfield in motion. But then you can also look at it as, you know, I mean, song by song, sometimes lyric by lyric, music tells the story of a culture, and it tells the story of how we live and what we care about and what we want others to know about us.
And when I was, you know, traveling and reporting for NPR, I mean, that's exactly what we were trying to get at, you know. And, you know, there are certain places where you would go, for instance, you know, northern Uganda, some places in Somalia, some places in Darfur, for instance, some places in Congo, where people did not feel at liberty to say exactly what had gone on with them or what had happened to them or to point fingers because they were usually pointing fingers to the person who was sitting right next to them.
You know, their neighbors were oftentimes doing terrible things to them. And so what they would do is they would write a song about it. And sometimes they would just sing you the song. And that really was going to be the only record of what had transpired, you know, that was of, you know, of major significance to the future of a culture, the future of a nation, the future of a region.
And so when I look at the songs that come out of Louisiana, for instance, I mean, they - I mean, when you piece them together, I mean it's like tatting lace. I mean, you are really - you come away with a real picture of what the people here are about. And I have to say I've been everywhere - I've been a lot of places, I should say, and there are - I don't think I've ever seen a place that has as many truly interesting people as there are here in New Orleans and here in Louisiana. Don't you agree, Troy?
ANDREWS: I agree, yeah. Shannon Powell is one of them.
THOMPKINS: Get him to cook for you.
ANDREWS: Yeah because I can't cook.
CONAN: Not even on a hot plate in a hotel room?
ANDREWS: No.
THOMPKINS: It's - and the truth is people get more interesting when they come. You know, it's not just the native folks. But look, Billy Joel showed up here last week, right. He checked into the Monteleone Hotel. He went downstairs immediately, went to the bar, played three songs, OK, left the bar, went on Bourbon Street and sang doo-wop. I mean, how often do you see that happening, you know what I mean, around the country, you know, where a guy, you know what I mean, is so excited to be here.
And the thing is, you know, people always ask that question, oh, you've got all these big acts who are coming down to New Orleans, you know, Billy Joel and Patti Smith and Fleetwood Mac. What do they have to do with New Orleans music? But the truth of the matter is I have never met an artist who cared about categories, you know what I mean, who said I am this kind of musician, or I am that kind of musician.
All artists are talking to one another, and all artists that I know of, you know what I mean, whether they're from here or not, acknowledge that this really is the source of American music right here.
ANDREWS: Definitely, yeah, (unintelligible). I'm sorry.
CONAN: Here's an email from - excuse me - Nancy in Fairbanks. My favorite memory of New Orleans as a Red Cross disaster relief volunteer after Katrina was the way everyone, young, old, male, female, white, black, called me baby. The last day of my tour, I was serving food to an elderly woman who said thank you, baby. My response was, I'm sure going to be missed being called baby.
ANDREWS: Oh.
CONAN: Let's see if we can get Daisy on the line. Daisy's with us from Charlottesville in Virginia.
DAISY: Hi, there.
CONAN: Hi, Daisy. Go ahead, please. What's your postcard from New Orleans?
DAISY: Well, I just wanted to share. I was there on November of last year for a conference and my husband came with me. We went down to Frenchmen Street, and it was like nothing we've ever experienced. My husband's not from the U.S., so he by far had a very unique experience. And I think what struck us most was being able to see so many different extremely talented musicians sharing their sound with anyone for free all night long.
ANDREWS: Yup, all night.
DAISY: And so we saw salsa, reggae, blues, country. It was all there. We just walked across the street from one to the other, no cover charge. We danced our hearts out, and it was like 3 or 4 o'clock in the morning. It was still going.
There was nothing happening. It wasn't an event, weekend or week or anything like that. It's just going all the time, and that is nowhere else in this country. I mean, it's distilled. It's, you know, potent. It's amazing. It's just a really beautiful experience and something, I think, we will treasure. And we were, you know, caught very much off-guard with having that experience there. So...
CONAN: And goes someway to explain Gwen's comments about New Orleanians not getting up early in the morning, necessarily.
DAISY: No. And, well, really...
THOMPKINS: That's true.
DAISY: ...we're already up. So...
THOMPKINS: Early is relative.
DAISY: I also wanted to say for Troy, we saw him open for Dave Matthews here in Charlottesville. I actually have a signature on a white leather jacket. So very glad to hear about him and that he's still going on and putting that music out there.
ANDREWS: Thank you very much.
CONAN: Thanks very much for the call.
DAISY: Thank you.
CONAN: And - go ahead.
THOMPKINS: Neal, well, I was going to say, Neal, you and I have hung out on Frenchmen Street, OK?
THOMPKINS: So you know what we're talking about. You know what I mean?
CONAN: And, fortunately, it was after the show, so getting up late the next morning was not so much of a problem.
THOMPKINS: And true. But you were eyeballing some girl who had legs up to Arkansas.
CONAN: I think she meant to be eyeballed, yes.
CONAN: We're talking with the irrepressible Gwen Thompkins and Trombone Shorty Troy Andrews at our member station in New Orleans, WWNO, as we continue our series of conversations, "Looking Ahead." You're listening to TALK OF THE NATION from NPR News.
And, Troy Andrews, I have to ask you, of course, there's that family tradition where music is handed down, but you've also started a foundation to support music education to hand down New Orleans music.
ANDREWS: Yes. Yeah.
CONAN: Can you tell us a little bit about it?
ANDREWS: Well, I started a foundation, Trombone Shorty Academy, to just basically help out some of the younger kids that's interested in music here because I visit schools a lot when I'm in town and just go play with the band, donate some instruments. And I didn't really know that these youngsters really knew who I was, and when I walked in, they were really excited, as if someone like Lil Wayne or someone came in.
ANDREWS: So I was like, wow, I have a young audience that I didn't even know about, and I think that I can help them through music, let them know that after school, after you finish marching band, that you can actually have a career at doing it. And I just wanted to help some of the youngsters that's interested in music some of the things that my family passed to me and the rest of the New Orleans musicians, some of the older guys that taught me things.
I just wanted to be able to capture that and pass that along to some of the younger musicians because we don't have a lot of the old cats around. The neighborhoods are not the same anymore to where you could just go to someone's house and you have a hundred musicians over there and you can just go get a lesson or play with the band, play in the street or whatever you want to do.
So I just wanted to give that experience to the kids that's coming up and also give them some fundamental things to practice and just have them catch up, 'cause we have a lot of kids that can play in the street but sometime they miss the whole fundamental thing, and that hinders them later on in life because they won't be able to play other styles of music.
And by me having the best of both worlds, being able to play on the street with some of the brass bands marching and going to NOCCA with some of the great teachers I had over there, they wanted me to focus on fundamental. So I just wanted to be able to get all that in one spot for the kids and, you know, hopefully save some lives.
CONAN: Because that's what it's about. It's...
ANDREWS: Yes.
CONAN: Yeah.
THOMPKINS: Terrific work. Terrific.
CONAN: It's not just learning to read - play scales and then read music. It's just part of it. Let's get Molly on the line. Molly's with us from Washington, Illinois.
MOLLY: Hello.
CONAN: Now you're on the air. Go ahead, please.
MOLLY: Hi. My - I wanted to tell you about the time my husband and I were in New Orleans for the first time. It was in March, it just a few months before Katrina. And we walked down Bourbon Street that first night as you do, but - and all the noise and the smells and the sounds of Bourbon Street, the sights, but we kept going.
And it was kind of a cool misty night, and we kept going past Bourbon Street, and we kept going further into the neighborhood, and it became very quiet. It was kind of misty, and the gaslights were hanging in front of the houses. The cars - you know, streets were deserted of cars, and it was like walking back in time 150 years. It was the most amazing transported experience I've ever had.
ANDREWS: Wow.
MOLLY: Just - we walked past a church, and there was a choir practicing in the basement. You could hear that in the background. It was like a movie, and it would...
ANDREWS: Wow.
MOLLY: ...stick in my mind forever as my image of New Orleans.
THOMPKINS: That's a great image.
CONAN: It is, yeah. I could see the Spanish moss now.
MOLLY: Yeah, exactly. It was ghosts walking by, you know? It was just, just amazing. We both talk about it in hushed tones to this day.
CONAN: Well, Molly...
ANDREWS: Wow.
CONAN: ...thanks very much. Appreciate that picture.
MOLLY: Thank you. It's a lovely city. I've been there twice. I'm going back this summer.
THOMPKINS: Oh, good.
ANDREWS: Thank you. Thank you.
THOMPKINS: Oh, boy.
CONAN: Here's an email from Karen(ph) in Grand Rapids: Via Facebook, I befriended a couple of dozen brass bandies who convene to celebrate major events - Mardi Gras Day, Bastille Day, the night before Easter, the Paradise Tumblers host open call pick-up band events for anyone who plays an instrument. Through them, I've fallen in with two MG parade marching bands, posed with tourists and acted as a local wayfaring helper, and I'm from Michigan.
THOMPKINS: That's pretty great.
CONAN: Yeah.
THOMPKINS: Yeah, I mean, that draws you out, I have to say. It really does, you know? And I mean, it sounds - maybe it sounds a bit trite but I mean, you can really be down, down, down in your soul and, you know, not feeling like anything is working for you and then all of a sudden you'll here a tuba or you'll a horn or something and then you realize just outside your house there is a brass band walking by and you realize you can join the parade or you can stay home. And, you know, and the logical choice is to join the parade and I tell you, you'll never regret it. You'll never regret it.
CONAN: Gwen, thanks very much. We never regret having you on the program.
THOMPKINS: Thank you.
CONAN: What about - how cool a segue was that?
THOMPKINS: Sweet.
CONAN: Gwen Thompkins, the host of WWNO's Music Inside Out, a New Orleans native. And again, you could go to our website and get a link to her program. Go to npr.org, click on TALK OF THE NATION. Troy Andrews, thank you again for being with us.
ANDREWS: Thank you for having me.
CONAN: Trombone Shorty and Gwen Thompkins with us from WWNO in New Orleans. When we come back, China's on top of the list when investigators look into big time hacking these days. An explanation. Stay with us. It's the TALK OF THE NATION from NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.


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Here's a very brief summary of how Stack Overflow DevDays 2011 will go down:
It'll be two days long.
It'll be sometime in September or October.
There will be FOUR independent, separate events to choose from in different cities: London, Washington DC, San Francisco, and Sydney.
There will be a single track, so you never have to worry about choosing between two equally cool topics.
When we did DevDays 2009, the idea was to do some intensive, one hour programming tutorials on the kinds of topics that we thought a lot of programmers really wanted to learn, but didn't have a chance yet to use at work. Two years ago, the topics we tried to cover were jQuery, Python, iPhone development, ASP.NET MVC, Google App Engine, etc.
This year, we've got two days, so there'll be time for even more sessions. We'll also have time for deeper, more big-picture talks in between the tutorials.
What topics would you like to learn about at DevDays 2011? One topic per answer, please, and vote up all the ones you like.
UPDATE (April 21st) Thanks for all the feedback, ideas, and votes so far. Keep it coming! We are working on nailing down dates and venues. Soon, we will line up committees for each city responsible for lining up speakers and fleshing out the schedule: they'll use this input as guidance to set up an awesome program in each of the four venues.
In the meantime if you have other questions about DevDays or other discussion, please ask it as a separate question tagged devdays-2011, don't just leave a random fly-by comment in the comments.

subset: commoncrawl


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WASHINGTON — For believers in sporting omens, here's one for you:
For the NFC wild-card playoff match Sunday against the Redskins, the Seahawks are staying at the same hotel on Capitol Hill as the Sonics when they won Seattle's only modern major pro sports championship.
Exactly zero Seahawks were alive when that unique moment in Northwest sports unfolded in May, 1979. The Sonics a year earlier lost the NBA Finals to the Washington Bullets (now Wizards), the seventh-game anguish crushing a sellout Seattle crowd at the then-Coliseum.
In the rematch, the Sonics dominated, winning 4-1 at Cap Centre in the Maryland suburbs, not far from FedEx Field where the Seahawks-Redskins dust-up is booked for 1:30 p.m. Sunday.
The post-game party at the hotel lasted until the Sonics' charter flew back the next day to Seattle. Judging from the looks of the joint, the place cleaned up nicely over the last 33 years.
The Seahawks' buses rolled in about midnight Friday from Baltimore-Washington airport. They have a walk-through Saturday afternoon to check out the battered field at FedEx, where the natural grass field is often viewed as slower than artificial turf, which would be a slight disadvantage for a Seahawks defense that relies on speed and quick cuts. The Seahawks, Carroll said Friday, are the least-injured team entering the post season that he has been associated with.
"We plan on wearing cleats — real cleats and not the ones with the molded bottoms," coach Pete Carroll said before the team left Seattle Friday. "We go to the stadium the day before to make sure we know what we're talking about. The equipment guys are all over it. That's why we make that (day-ahead walk-through), to make sure we can make those adjustments before we get to pregame."
Brown and bare patches were visible Sunday when the Redskins beat the Cowboys 28-18 to make the postseason field in the most-watched regular-season, prime-time game ever — a 17.0 rating and more than 30 million viewers. Redskins QB Robert Griffin III, managed to navigate the lumps of sod fairly well despite a sore knee. Griffin earlier in the week had hoped to shed a knee brace, but Redskins coach Mike Shanahan confirmed Friday that Griffin will again wear the brace to protect a knee hurt Dec. 9.
Speaking of oddness: The Seahawks have lost their last six regular games to the Redskins, but have won both playoff games between the clubs, in 2006 and 2008. The last time the Seahawks won in D.C. was Nov. 19, 1995. Coached by Dennis Erickson and quarterbacked by Rick Mirer, Seattle prevailed 27-20 before 51,298 at RFK Stadium.


text:
By resisting efforts at the United Nations to bring concerted pressure on Syrian President Bashar Assad to end the killing in his country, Russia is "in effect, propping up the [Assad] regime at a time when we should be working on a political transition," Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said earlier today in Copenhagen.
Clinton also told an audience that Russia's implicit support for Assad could "help contribute to a civil war" in Syria, The Associated Press reports.
And the AP sums up the news from Clinton's comments this way:
"U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Thursday that every day of slaughter in Syria is strengthening the case for tougher international action, yet stressed that military intervention would require support from the world community and Syria's ally Russia."
Wednesday, as Eyder reported, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., Susan Rice, warned about the danger of "a proxy with countries all over the region and beyond funneling weapons" into Syria.
Since protests against the Assad regime began in March 2011, as many as 15,000 people have reportedly been killed — most at the hands of government forces and paramilitaries, according to the U.N. The Assad regime insists that many of the deaths have been the work of "terrorists."
Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.


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You can now find many roofing companies in and around your neighborhood. The increased number of storms and other natural calamities which are too often disturbing our peace have also initiated the demand for qualified roofing contractors. This has also made the roofing industry very competitive. One can however take the responsibility upon himself to install the roof of his home. But engaging the roofing company akron company can be a life saver. In this article we have discussed the reasons why one may only hire a qualified roofing company for the job.
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Debris removal: You would need professionals help remove the debris of the changed roof. The residential roofing company would offer debris removal and disposing services. Further, they would also cause minimum damage to your home while installing roof.
Licenses and bonds: Your local legislative body would require both the residential and Commercial roofing contractors to be licensed and bonded to carry out roof installation assignments. It may also be a legal requirement to have the roofs installed only by licensed roofing contractors. Further, the contractor is likely to carry insurance, as per business requirements, to cover damages caused by them.
Budget option: If you think that carrying out roofing assignments by yourself is the frugal way, you are wrong. If you are not a professional there can be many things go wrong during the period to increase the overall cost. With residential roofing companies you can shop around for the most budget solution. The roofing contractor would help you find the best roofing option within your budget.
Insurer's requirement: Your home insurer may demand that you engage only a certified roofing contractor for the job to have the damages covered by them.


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Clayton Kershaw (1-3, 5.21) vs. John Koronka (0-1, 9.64).
Today is getaway day.
You're off to Dodger Stadium!
You're off and away!
You have hats on your head.
You have spikes on your shoes.
You have three wins this road trip,
a fourth = good news!
So bid farewell to Land Shark. The name does not impress.
You're not coming back—unless for the NLCS.
Today it's Kershaw
versus Koronka
as we wait for Kuroda
to get off his badonkadonka.
You are Beast Mode and Raffy
O-Dog and 'Dre.
When Torre rests regulars
The bench finds a way.
J-Mart, King James
Bison and the Beard.
Manny didn't distract
As many had feared.
Mets, next in line
but one game at a time.
On basepaths things can happen
and frequently do
for teams as speedy
and toolsy as you.
And if things don't happen,
don't worry. Don't stew.
Just go right along.
You'll start happening too.


text:
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Study: Nearly Half of Black Men Arrested by 23
Nearly 50 percent of black men and 40 percent of white men are arrested at least once on non-traffic-related crimes by the time they turn 23, according to a new study.
One of the authors of the study published this month in the journal "Crime & Delinquency" said the statistics could be useful in shaping policy so that people aren't haunted by arrests when they apply for jobs, schools or public housing.
"Many, many people are involved with the criminal justice system at this level," said Shawn Bushway, a University at Albany criminologist. "And treating them all as if they're hardened criminals is a serious mistake."
The peer-reviewed estimates didn't rely on arrest records but instead on an annual federal Bureau of Labor Statistics survey of about 7,000 young people who answered questions each year from 1997 to 2008 on a range of issues -- including if they had ever been taken into custody for something other than a traffic offense. Self-reported crimes ranged from underage drinking to violent assaults.
The authors found that by age 18, 30 percent of black men, 26 percent of Hispanic men and 22 percent of white men have been arrested. By 23, those numbers climb to 49 percent for black men, 44 percent for Hispanic men and 38 percent for white men.
Among women, 20 percent of blacks, 18 percent of whites and 16 percent of Hispanics were arrested at least once by age 23.
Further research on the arrests themselves, convictions and recidivism rates are in the works, said the study's co-author, University of South Carolina criminology professor Robert Brame.
"Among criminologists, I don't think they're that surprised or alarmed by the findings," Brame said. "The alarm and concern is among people not as familiar with the patterns."
The last time a similar estimate was made was in 1967, when researchers using statistics reported to the FBI found that by age 23, 34 percent of all men would have been arrested at least once. Brame and Bushway's estimate for all men is 40 percent.
Overall, the 1967 estimate said 22 percent of all people were arrested at least once for a non-traffic offense by age 23; the new study's overall finding is 30 percent.
Jim Pasco, the executive director of the Washington, D.C.-based National Fraternal Order of Police, wasn't familiar with the study but said officers are focused on stopping crime as it happens -- regardless of race or age.
Kai Smith, 44, who heads a New York City gang diversion group, said he was first arrested at age 12 or 13 for jumping a subway turnstile. He later went on to serve 16 years in state prison for drug possession.
"It's really damaging ... putting handcuffs on a child at 12, 13 or 14 years old," he said. "Even for something like jumping a turnstile, those acts have ripple effects that can be catastrophic."
In New York, Gov. Andrew Cuomo has proposed raising the age when criminal suspects go to adult court from 16 to 18, saying he'll establish a commission to plan it and propose steps to protect the public from "a small number of young violent offenders."
Only one other state, North Carolina, treats juveniles this way. Advocates in both states want the age of criminal responsibility raised to 18, with younger teens sent to family court, where they can avoid the dangers of adult jails and prisons and have criminal records sealed.
The Rev. Dr. Robert Waterman, a pastor at Antioch Baptist Church in Brooklyn, said the high arrests rates for young black men create a troubling cycle, where criminal records lead to difficulties gaining lawful employment, which then results in criminal behavior and more arrests.
"It really takes a toll on them and their futures," he said. "Even the process of getting carried down to the police station -- it becomes a custom or pattern that becomes part of their lives."
(Copyright 2014 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)


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Right now the markets are filled with fresh strawberries and raspberries and that made me think about one my favourite ways to enjoy them together, in this strawberry and avocado spinach salad with raspberry balsamic vinaigrette. You might think that it is a bit odd combining strawberries in the salad and raspberries in the dressing but they work beautifully well together especially in a baby spinach salad with cool and creamy avocado, salty bacon and tangy blue cheese! Individually all of the ingredients in this salad are pretty amazing but combined they take things to a whole new level! This strawberry and avocado spinach salad in raspberry balsamic vinaigrette is so easy to throw together and it makes for a tasty treat of a light meal on hot summer days!
This salad has been a favourite of mine for years and I am still making it many times every summer!
The original photo from five years ago:
Strawberry and Avocado Spinach Salad in Raspberry Balsamic Vinaigrette
A fresh summer strawberry and baby spinach salad with avocado and bacon in a raspberry vinaigrette that just screams summer!
- 1 (5 ounce) package baby spinach
- 2 cups strawberries, sliced
- 1 avocado, diced
- 4 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
- 1/4 cup blue cheese, crumbled
- 1/4 cup pecans, coarsely chopped
- 1/4 cup raspberry white balsamic vinaigrette
- Assemble salad, toss in dressing and enjoy!
Option: I like to throw in some fresh peas when available in spring.
Strawberry and Balsamic Grilled Chicken Salad
BBQ Chicken Salad with Creamy Avocado Dressing
Strawberry and Feta Salad
Spinach and Strawberry Salad with Butter Toasted Almonds
Strawberry BBQ Chicken Spinach and Quinoa Salad with Bacon, Avocado and Goat Cheese
Strawberry Caprese Salad
Strawberry Quinoa and Spinach Caprese Salad
Strawberry Bruschetta with Bacon, Candied Pecans and Goat Cheese with a Balsamic Drizzle
Strawberry Salsa Stuffed Avocados
Grilled Chicken and Asparagus Caprese Spinach Salad with Bacon and Avocado
Raspberry Balsamic Chipotle Grilled Pork Chops
Berry Quinoa Salad
Berry and Avocado Spinach Salad with Feta and Pistachios in a Creamy Berry Poppy Seed Dressing
Berry Salad with Honey and Lemon Yogurt Dressing


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Group Takes Controverisal Step of Donating Guns to Neighborhood to Help People Protect Themselves
The right to bear arms is taking on a whole new look in one Texas city.
A nonprofit organization called the Armed Citizen Project will hand out shotguns to people in a high-crime area of the city as a means to protect themselves.
Armed Citizen Project founder Kyle Coplen says furnishing people with guns makes a lot of sense:
They're pretty inexpensive, easy to learn how to use and they make good home defense weapons."
The group has its sights on donating shotguns to between 50 and 100 people, but only after they undergo training and pass a background check.
The controversial initiative falls in line with the organization's overall plan of "empowering neighborhoods" in other cities, such as Dallas, Indianapolis, Chicago, Detroit, New York and Tucson, where Gabrielle Giffords was infamously shot in 2011, along with six other people who died.
Coplen says, "We're giving folks the tools with which to defend their life, liberty and property, training them how to use the weapons and empowering citizens."
The Armed Citizen Project has already made a point of handing out guns to single mothers and the elderly, but it's never given weapons to a large population of one specific neighborhood.


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The 237th anniversary of Paul Revere's famous midnight ride during the Revolutionary War falls on Wednesday. But long before Henry Wadsworth Longfellow made him famous, Revere was known as an engraver and a silversmith in Boston.
Brown University announced this week that it had found a rare engraved print by Revere, one of only five in existence. The print was tucked inside an old medical book that had been donated by physician Solomon Drowne, a member of Brown University's class of 1773.
"It was an engraving, not a terribly large one," Richard Noble, Brown University's rare books cataloguer tells weekends on All Things Considered host Guy Raz, "and I looked down at the corner and there was a signature, "P. Revere Sculp." And I thought, 'You know, it's just crude enough to be his work.'"
Noble did some research online, and found a picture and description of the very same print on the American Antiquarian Society website, proving that this was a Revere original.
The print itself is rare, but what makes it truly unique is what it depicts, Noble says. The print shows Jesus in the Jordan River with John the Baptist, after being fully submerged in the water; the standard image often associated with Jesus' baptism has John the Baptist pouring water over Jesus' head.
The submersion of Christ is more in tune with the Baptist telling of the Baptism of Christ, Noble says.
"The text that's chosen for the caption, 'Buried with Him by baptism,' is very, very Baptist with a capital B text," Noble says.
Revere was a known Unitarian and though Noble is not a religious scholar, he says he believes Revere's print holds a hidden significance. His hope is "that somebody who knows something about that can come along and say, 'That's interesting and I've never seen anything quite like it before from this period, and I think that might be the case.'"
Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.


text:
RichardW writes:
It's no use asking me to supply a definition for you. The main reason I am a moral anti-realist (essentially a non-cognitivist) is because it seems impossible to define moral terms (without using other moral terms).
If you refuse to choose a definition then how are we supposed to engage in any type of discussion? We can't even reduce ourselves to grunts and whistles without, first, assigning meaning to grunts and whistles.
As it turns out, I am an anti-realist too. And I am a non-cognitivist. I am also a realist and a cognitivist.
How is it the case that I can be all of these things? Don't they contradict each other?
No, they do not. What people take to be different moral theories is, in fact, different moral languages. Realism and anti-realism no more contradict each other than Einstein's theory of relativity in German contradicts Einstein's theory of relativity in Chinese
They appear to contradict each other because both theories use the same terms. So, "Moral properties do not exist" in one language appears to contradict "Moral properties do exist" in another language. However, they are different language (as opposed to different theories) precisely because they use two different meanings of the term "Moral properties".
Here's the argument as I see it.
Person 1: Choose your definition of 'morality'.
Person 2: (Chooses a definition).
Person 1: Now, defend that definition as the correct definition.
Person 2: I cannot.
Person 1: Then we can throw out that definition of morality.
I take this to be logically equivalent to the following.
Person 1: Choose your language for expressing Einstein's theory of relativity.
Person 2: I choose German
Person 1: Now, defend that language as the correct language for Einstein's theory of relativity.
Person 2: I cannot.
Person 1: Then we can throw out Einstein's theory of relativity.
Throw out moral terms, if that is what pleases you. I do not need it. Throw out every moral term – just cross it out of the dictionary and resolve never to use any of them ever again. Let us speak the language of moral anti-realist non-cognitivism.
Desires exist. Desires are reasons for action. People still act so as to fulfill the most and strongest of their own desires. Some desires are still malleable – they can be created or destroyed, strengthened or weakened, by social forces such as praise, blame, reward, and punishment. People still have "reasons for action that exist" (desires that they seek to fulfill) for promoting desires that tend to fulfill other desires. We have a whole family of propositions here that are objectively true or false.
Only, because we have adopted the language of moral anti-realist non-cognitivism we are not reducing any of these statements to moral terms.
Or, we can choose a different language. Here's a suggestion:
"Good1" means "Is such as to fulfill the desires in question." That is to say, to call a state of affairs S "Good" is to say that there is a desire that P and P is true in S. It follows from this that those people who have a desire that P also have a "reason for action" to realize S.
They may also have reasons for action that realize not-S. That is, they may have a desire that Q, where Q is false in S. That desire that Q may be stronger than the desire that P. In this case, the agent has more and stronger reason to realize not-S than S. Let us use the term "Good2" to refer to states of affairs according to how well they fulfill all of an agent's desires. "Good2" means "Is such as to fulfill the most and strongest of an agent's desires." Notice that Good2 is just a species of Good1 where "The desires in question" are all of an agent's desires.
Now, we have an agent with a desire that P and a desire that Q. Now, if there is a state of affairs S' where P is true and S and Q is true in S, then the agent has reason to realize S'. He has more and stronger reason to realize S' than to realize S. So, in this case, let us say that S' is "better1 than" S. "Better1 than 1" means "Fulfills the more and stronger of the desires of the agent."
Now, let us introduce a second agent. Agent2's desires are malleable, meaning that Agent1 has the power to choose Agent2's desires. Agent1, recall, has the most and strongest reasons for action to realize S' (since it fulfills both his desire that P and desire that Q). Agent1 can give Agent2 a desire that R1. R is true in S', so this means that Agent2 will have reason to realize S'. Or Agent1 can give Agent2 a desire that R2. R2 is true in not-S', so this means Agent2 will have reason to realize not-S'. Agent1 has more and stronger reason to give Agent2 a desire that R1.
Now, let us define Good3 in such a way that we will only use this definition of "Good" when we are evaluating desires. A desire is Good3 if it is such that it tends to fulfill the most and strongest of other desires. That is, it will tend to motivate the agent to act in such a way so as to make or keep true the propositions that are the objects of other desires. In this case, R1 is good3.
We can also add Good4 by the way. Good4 will only be used to evaluate intentional actions. A Good4 action is an action that a person with Good3 desires would have performed. That is to say, a Good4 action is an action that would fulfill the most and strongest desires of a person with Good3 desires.
Since all of these numbers are confusing, let us say that Good1 = Good in the generic sense. Good2 = Practical goodness. Good3 = Virtue. Good4 = Obligation,
What I have done here is invented a language. Furthermore, I would claim that this language is so close to common English that most native English speakers (particularly those who have not committed themselves to speaking a different moral language but who take English moral terms "as is") would be hard pressed to tell the difference.
Now, the challenge is, "Can I defend this language as being the correct language?"
Answer: I cannot.
But, see the previous section. Choosing between moral languages is no different than choosing between Einstein's theory of relativity in German or Einstein's theory of relativity in Chinese.
It would be useful if we all spoke the same language. It would certainly make communication more efficient. However, whether that language should be English, Spanish, Chinese, or some other language is not a subject that interests me. As for me, I speak English, and that is the language I will continue to write in. If you prefer a different language, I will leave it to you to do the translation.
It would be useful if we all spoke the same moral language. It would certainly make communication more efficient. However, whether that language should be cognitivist, non-cognitivist, realist, or anti-realist is not a subject that interests me. I speak cognitivist realist. If you read a different language, I will leave it to you to do the translation.
Though, actually, I do speak non-cognitivist anti-realist and can do the translation myself if I have enough reason to do so. I can't say the same about Chinese.


text:
Visa Rolls Out Managed Mobile Service
Visa announced it is rolling out a plug-and-play mobile service designed to help bring mobile financial services to developing countries.
The service is targeted toward banks and mobile operators in these countries to provide mobile financial services to unbanked and underbanked consumers. Visa said it will host and fully manage all aspects of a mobile money program on behalf of the bank or mobile provider, from user interface design to consumer enrollment, transactions processing, authorization, clearing and settlement. The new service can enable domestic-only or globally interoperable mobile money services.
The service is initially being rolled out in India and Rwanda, with Aircel mobile subscribers in India and customers of Bank of Kigali and Urwego Opportunity Bank in Rwanda having access to a financial account that is linked to their mobile phone number.
The new platform, which is being hosted in Visa managed data centers, is built on technology from Fundamo, the mobile money company acquired by Visa in 2011.
Visa also said this new platform is designed to comply with the regulatory frameworks established for mobile financial services and offers mobile network operators and financial institutions a local connection to Visa's global payment network, VisaNet.
[Related: Banking the Unbankable Requires a Targeted Effort]
Bryan Yurcan is associate editor for Bank Systems and Technology. He has worked in various editorial capacities for newspapers and magazines for the past 8 years. After beginning his career as a municipal and courts reporter for daily newspapers in upstate New York, Bryan has ... View Full Bio


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Bloody Baron
The Bloody Baron | |
Biographical information | |
Born | |
Died |
Early 11th century[2] |
Title(s) |
Baron[3] |
Physical information | |
Species | |
Gender |
Male[3] |
Skin colour |
Pale[4] |
Family information | |
Family members |
n/a |
Magical characteristics | |
Animagus |
n/a |
Affiliation | |
Occupation |
Slytherin House Ghost[3] |
House | |
Loyalty |
- Seamus Finnigan: "How did he get covered in blood?"
- Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington: "I've never asked."
- — Seamus Finnigan asking Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington about Bloody Baron[src]
The Bloody Baron (late 10th century – early 11th century) was a wizard who attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in the Founders' time and was Sorted into Slytherin house.
After Hogwarts, he fell in love with Helena Ravenclaw, but she did not love him. He was sent by Rowena Ravenclaw to find Helena in Albania, but Helena refused to return with him and so he killed her in a rage. When he realised what he had done, the Baron stabbed himself with the same knife and died.
After death, he is one of the ghosts that haunts Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and the ghost of Slytherin house. Covered in Helena Ravenclaw's blood to this day, he earned himself the moniker of "Bloody Baron".
Biography[edit | edit source]
Early life[edit | edit source]
" | The baron was always a hot-tempered man. | " |
–Helena Ravenclaw relays the Baron's personality prior to his death., Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows |
The Baron was born into nobility, no earlier than 982.[1]
At the age of eleven, the Baron became part of one of the first generations of students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in Scotland, which, at that time, was still being run by its original Founders. He was Sorted into Slytherin House and was educated in the magical arts by Salazar Slytherin for the seven years that followed.[5]
Sometime around this time the Baron met Helena Ravenclaw, daughter of Rowena Ravenclaw, whom he fell in love with, though she always rejected his advances.[6]
Death[edit | edit source]
- Helena Ravenclaw: "He tracked me to the forest where I was hiding. When I refused to return with him, he became violent. The baron was always a hot-tempered man. Furious at my refusal, jealous of my freedom, he stabbed me."
- Harry Potter: "The Baron? You mean —?"
- Helena Ravenclaw: "The Bloody Baron, yes. When he saw what he had done, he was overcome with remorse. He took the weapon that had claimed my life, and used it to kill himself. All these centuries later, he wears his chains as an act of penitence… as he should."
- — Helena Ravenclaw tells Harry Potter the story of her and the Baron's death.[src]
Later on in his life, Helena, after stealing a diadem belonging to her mother that increased the intelligence of the wearer, ran away to Albania. Around this same time, Rowena fell fatally ill,[6] although legend has it that it was a broken heart,[7] possibly caused by her daughter abandoning her. Rowena ordered the Baron to go after her, which he did, eventually finding her hiding in a forest. After he had found her, the Baron tried to compel her to return with him, but she refused, and, in a fit of rage, he killed her. Overcome with grief, he proceeded to take his own life with the same weapon he used to stab Helena.[6]
Post-mortem[edit | edit source]
" | Harry looked over at the Slytherin table and saw a horrible ghost sitting there, with blank staring eyes, a gaunt face, and robes stained with silver blood. | " |
–Description., Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone |
The Baron, as well as Helena, now known as the Grey Lady, both returned from the dead as ghosts, and returned to Hogwarts Castle, where they became the house ghosts of their former Houses, Slytherin and Ravenclaw respectively.[3] The Baron has been remorseful of his actions ever since, and carries heavy chains as a sign of penance.[6] Nobody else seems to know why he is covered in blood, not even the other Hogwarts ghosts, excluding the Grey Lady.[3] For unspecified reasons, presumably related to his apparently violent, dangerous nature, the Baron has gained Peeves's respect and is the only one, besides Professor Dumbledore, who can give him orders.[3]
According to Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington, groaning and clanking in the Astronomy Tower was a favourite pastime of the Baron's.[8]
1991-1992 school year[edit | edit source]
" | So — new Gryffindors! I hope you're going to help us win the house championship this year? Gryffindors have never gone so long without winning. Slytherins have got the cup six years in a row! The Bloody Baron's becoming almost unbearable — he's the Slytherin ghost. | " |
–Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington, Gryffindor house ghost during the Start-of-Term Feast., Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone |
On 1 September 1991, the Baron attended the Start-of-Term Feast, where he sat next to first year Draco Malfoy, who did not look too pleased with the seating arrangements.[3]
A while before midnight on 12 September 1991, the Bloody Baron passed twice by the Fat Lady's Corridor, frightening Neville Longbottom, who was sleeping in the corridor because he had forgotten the new password to get into Gryffindor Tower.[9]
Shortly prior the Hallowe'en feast on 31 October, the Baron haunted the Dungeons.[10]
In the evening of 4 June during their quest to save the Philosopher's Stone from Lord Voldemort, Harry Potter, Ronald Weasley, and Hermione Granger, all under the Cloak of Invisibility, were intercepted by Peeves who threatened to call Argus Filch if whoever that was there did not show themselves. Harry Potter, in a hoarse whisper, proceeded to impersonate the Baron.[11]
1992-1993 school year[edit | edit source]
" | They passed a group of gloomy nuns, a ragged man wearing chains, and the Fat Friar, a cheerful Hufflepuff ghost, who was talking to a knight with an arrow sticking out of his forehead. Harry wasn't surprised to see that the Bloody Baron, a gaunt, staring Slytherin ghost covered in silver bloodstains, was being given a wide berth by the other ghosts. | " |
–Description of Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington's five-hundredth Deathday Party., Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets |
On the evening of 31 October 1992, the Baron attended Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington's five-hundredth Deathday Party. The other ghosts appeared to avoid him during the celebration.[12]
He spent Christmas day strolling the dungeons by the Slytherin Dungeon.[13]
1994-1995 school year[edit | edit source]
- Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington: "You're lucky there's a feast at all tonight, you know. There was trouble in the kitchens earlier."
- Harry Potter: "Why? What happened?"
- Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington: "Peeves, of course. The usual argument, you know. He wanted to attend the feast — well, it's quite out of the question, you know what he's like, utterly uncivilized, can't see a plate of food without throwing it. We held a ghost's council — the Fat Friar was all for giving him the chance — but most wisely, in my opinion, the Bloody Baron put his foot down."
- — Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington tells Harry Potter, Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger of the ghost council about Peeves.[src]
In the afternoon of 1 September, 1994, the Hogwarts ghosts gathered to decide whether Peeves should be allowed to attend the Start-of-Term Feast. The Fat Friar wanted to give him another chance, but both Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington and the Bloody Baron decided against it. As a result, Peeves wreaked havoc in the kitchens, spilling soup all over the place and scattering pots and pans everywhere.[14]
Later in the year, the Baron encountered Harry Potter and Ron Weasley in the North Tower, while they were talking about Sybill Trelawney's alleged predictions of Harry's death.[15]
1995-1996 school year[edit | edit source]
- Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington: "I would not go that way if I were you. Peeves is planning an amusing joke on the next person to pass the bust of Paracelsus halfway down the corridor."
- Harry Potter: "Does it involve Paracelsus falling on top of the person's head?"
- Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington: "Funnily enough, it does. Subtlety has never been Peeves's strong point. I'm off to try and find the Bloody Baron… he might be able to put a stop to it… see you, Harry."
- — Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington encounters Harry Potter.[src]
By 1995, there was a tetraptych of the Baron hung in the dungeon cupboard. He would frequently haunt this area of the Dungeons during this school year.[16]
During the Start-of-Term Feast, on 1 September 1995, Ronald Weasley managed to inadvertedly insult Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington, by saying the ghost was afraid of the Bloody Baron when he said he would never dream of seeking an argument with the Baron.[17]
A week later, on 7 September, Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington looked for the Baron to see if he could dissuade Peeves from dropping a bust of Paracelsus on top of anyone who passed the corridor in which the bust stood.[18]
1996-1997 school year[edit | edit source]
- Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington: "He is here. Professor Dumbledore returned to the school an hour ago. I had it from the Bloody Baron, who saw him arrive. He appeared, according to the Baron, to be in good spirits, though a little tired, of course."
- Harry Potter: "Where is he?"
- Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington: "Oh, groaning and clanking up on the Astronomy Tower, it's a favourite pastime of his —"
- — An exchange between Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington and Harry Potter.[src]
In the early hours of 22 April, 1997, the Bloody Baron saw Albus Dumbledore return to the Castle from one of his missions to find Lord Voldemort's Horcruxes, and reported it to Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington. He later retreated to the Astronomy Tower where he liked to groan and clank.[8]
1997-1998 school year[edit | edit source]
On 2 May, 1998, the Battle of Hogwarts ensued after Lord Voldemort learned Harry Potter was in the premises. The ghosts, likely including the Baron, attended a gathering in the Great Hall, in which Professor McGonagall gave instructions on evacuation of underage students and Kingsley Shacklebolt organised the participants for battle.[6] Later on, the ghosts gathered at the Great Hall, joining the mass mourning over the dead.[19]
Physical description[edit | edit source]
" | The Bloody Baron was the Slytherin ghost, a gaunt and silent spectre covered in silver bloodstains. | " |
–Description., Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire |
As a ghost, the Baron was very pale,[4] pearly-white and slightly transparent.[3] He had wide, staring,[15] black eyes[3] and a gaunt face.[3] He dressed in robes covered in silver bloodstains,[14] and carried chains in a final act of penitence for having murdered Helena Ravenclaw.[6] He also sported a curly powdered wig and carried his sword.[20] He spoke in a hoarse whisper.[11]
Personality and traits[edit | edit source]
- Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington: "Well, now, you shouldn't take that attitude. Peaceful cooperation, that's the key. We ghosts, though we belong to separate houses, maintain links of friendship. In spite of the competitiveness between Gryffindor and Slytherin, I would never dream of seeking an argument with the Bloody Baron."
- Ronald Weasley: "Only because you're terrified of him."
- — An exchange between Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington and Ronald Weasley.[src]
During his lifetime, the Baron was described by Helena Ravenclaw as a "hot-tempered man". He insisted on having his way in interactions, responding with violent uncontrolled anger when contradicted.[6] As a ghost, he was frightening and most people did not seem to enjoy his presence,[3] not even his fellow ghosts.[12] However, he seemed to have a cordial, if not friendly, relationship with the ghost of Sir Nicholas de Mimsy Porpington,[8] despite Ronald Weasley's allegations of the latter being "terrified" of him.[17] The Baron seemed to be intolerant towards Peeves, who was scared of him,[11] and could not bear his lack of civilisation, putting "his foot down" over the Poltergeist's presence in the 1994 Start-of-Term Feast.[14] He also seems to have a great deal of House pride; before Harry Potter's arrival at Hogwarts, Slytherin had won the House Cup for six years in a row, and the Baron had become "unbearable" according to Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington.[3]
Behind the scenes[edit | edit source]
- In the Welsh translation, the Baron's name is given as Waldo.
- The Bloody Baron is the only Hogwarts house ghost in the books without any on-'screen' dialogue.
- In the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, the Bloody Baron is portrayed by Terence Bayler.
- In the films, the Baron is depicted as being quite mirthful, in stark contrast to the solemn and quite terrifying character in the books. In the video games, however, the Baron resumes his "book" persona.
- In all of his media appearances, the Bloody Baron appears in late seventeenth century attire. This wardrobe was chosen for the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, when the Baron's death date was uncertain. This, of course, is not consistent with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, in which he is revealed to have died in the early eleventh century.
- His epithet, the Bloody Baron, is also an anachronism, as feudalism was not introduced in the British Isles until after the Norman conquest in 1066, and therefore there were no barons until this time.
- In the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, the Bloody Baron resembles Captain James Hook (as played by Dustin Hoffman) in the film Hook. Coincidentally, that film features Maggie Smith, who plays Professor McGonagall, as well as a music score by John Williams.
- The Baron is encountered in the PC/64 version of Philosopher's Stone walking the labyrinthine dungeon corridors where Professor Snape sends Harry Potter to find four crucial potion ingredients. In the next gen version of Chamber of Secrets, the Baron can be seen walking the path from the dungeons through the entrance hall to the teacher's lounge corridor, every night, the chilling sound of his footsteps echoing through the hall each time as he approaches.
- In the video game version of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets it is mentioned he cannot speak.
- In the credits of the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, his name is misspelt as "Bloody Barron".
- In the PS2 version of the video game adaptation of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, there is a large statue of the Bloody Baron on the North Wing.
Appearances[edit | edit source]
- Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
- Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (film)
- Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (video game)
- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (video game)
- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (video game)
- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (video game)
- Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (video game)
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
- LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4
- LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5-7
Notes and references[edit | edit source]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Given Hogwarts was founded in around 993 A.D. and that the Baron attended it within Rowena Ravenclaw's lifetime, he must have been eleven by or after the school's founding. So, the earliest date he could have possibly been born is 982.
- ↑ He killed himself after his seven years at Hogwarts, and given the earliest he could have started at the school is 993, his earliest possible death year is 1000.
- ↑ 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 3.11 3.12 3.13 3.14 Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone - Chapter 7 (The Sorting Hat)
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone - Chapter 10 (Halloween)
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 "If a teacher is head of a house, can we assume that they were sorted into those houses when they were students at Hogwarts? Is that also true for the house ghosts? So was Snape a Slytherin?" on J.K.Rowling Official Site
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Chapter 31 (The Battle of Hogwarts)
- ↑ Wizard of the Month
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - Chapter 23 (Horcruxes)
- ↑ Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone - Chapter 9 (The Midnight Duel)
- ↑ Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (video game) - PC version
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone - Chapter 16 (Through the Trapdoor)
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets - Chapter 8 (The Deathday Party)
- ↑ Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (video game) - PC version
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - Chapter 12 (The Triwizard Tournament)
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - Chapter 21 (The House-Elf Liberation Front)
- ↑ Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (video game)
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - Chapter 11 (The Sorting Hat's New Song)
- ↑ Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - Chapter 14 (Percy and Padfoot)
- ↑ Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Chapter 33 (The Prince's Tale)
- ↑ Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (film) - Chapter 13 (Nick and Other Residents)


text: Croup is a disease caused by a virus that leads to swelling in the airways and problems breathing. The child may also have stridor, a high-pitched sound usually heard when the child breathes in (inspiration). What causes croup? Croup is caused by a variety of different viruses. The most common virus is the parainfluenza virus. Other viruses may include: respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) influenza virus measles adenovirus enteroviruses A child becomes infected through direct contact with a person, or the secretions of another person who is infected with the disease. The infection begins in the upper respiratory tract and then slowly spreads down the tract. Swelling affects the area around the voice box (larynx) and into the trachea. Younger children are more affected by croup because their airways are smaller. Therefore, a small amount of swelling can cause a large amount of obstruction in their airways. Facts about croup: Croup is most commonly seen in children 3 months old to 5 years. The peak time for croup to occur is 2 years old. Boys seem to be more affected by croup than girls. Croup is seen more often in the winter. What are the symptoms of croup? The following are the most common symptoms of croup. However, each child may experience symptoms differently. As the disease progresses down the respiratory tract, the symptoms also change and may include: a runny nose, congestion, and slight cough a cough develops into a "seal's bark" laryngitis fever stridor Stridor is a high-pitched sound that is usually noted as the child breathes in (inspiration), although it can also be heard as the child breathes out (expiration). Very often, the symptoms are worse at night and wake the child from sleep. Symptoms also seem to improve in the morning but progress as the day goes on. The extent of the disease varies for each child. Most children improve in three to seven days. The symptoms of croup may resemble other conditions and medical problems. Always consult your child's physician for a diagnosis. How is croup diagnosed? In addition to a complete medical history and physical examination, diagnostic procedures for croup may include: neck and chest x-rays-a diagnostic test which uses invisible electromagnetic energy beams to produce images of internal tissues, bones, and organs onto film. blood tests pulse oximetry-an oximeter is a small machine that measures the amount of oxygen in the blood. To obtain this measurement, a small sensor (like a Band-Aid®) is taped onto a finger or toe. When the machine is on, a small red light can be seen in the sensor. The sensor is painless and the red light does not get hot. Treatment for croup: Specific treatment for croup will be determined by your child's physician based on: your child's age, overall health, and medical history extent of the disease your child's tolerance for specific medications, procedures, or therapies expectations for the course of the disease your opinion or preference In severe cases of croup, or if your child is not breathing well, hospitalization may be considered. This is sometimes hard to tell because the disease fluctuates, and your child may seem better at one moment, and then get worse the next. Your child's physician may also order the following medications to help with the symptoms of croup: breathing treatments (to help open up the airways) injections of medications (to help decrease the swelling in the airways) steroids given by mouth (to also help with the swelling of the airways) Supportive treatment at home may also include: using a cool mist humidifier taking the child outside into cool, dry, night air increased fluid intake treating a fever with acetaminophen or ibuprofen, as instructed by your child's physician keeping your child as quiet and calm as possible (to help decrease the breathing effort)


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On 5 April 2016 the JRC presented the interactive and collaborative online European Energy Efficiency Platform. This beta platform is conceived to fill the gap opened by scattered data and fragmented knowledge resulting from a rapidly growing energy efficiency market. It is expected to be both a one-stop shop for information retrieval and a meeting point for experts to exchange data and reduce redundant activities.
We argue that a primary focus on energy efficiency may not be sufficient to slow (and ultimately reverse) the growth in total energy consumption and carbon emissions. Instead, policy makers need to return to an earlier emphasis on "conservation," with energy efficiency seen as a means rather than an end in itself.
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text:
Good morning, I'm Renee Montagne with a message: Wayne Dobson does not have your cell phone. Many cell phones allow you to track them using GPS if they go missing. But the Las Vegas Review Journal reports that technical glitch has, for two years, directed some Sprint customers, who've lost their phones in Vegas, to the home of Wayne Dobson. Sprint says it's researching the problem. Meanwhile, Dobson has come up with his own low-tech solution, a sign on his door reading: No lost cell phones.
It's MORNING EDITION. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.


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House leaders have had weeks to come up with a plan to deal with the nation's debt limit. Now, the day before they want to leave town for a break, it appears they've essentially decided to throw in the towel. They plan to put a bill on the House floor raising the debt ceiling for a year without any conditions attached.
Copyright 2014 NPR


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As I enter the home stretch, I keep running across them as I flip through looking for the bits and pieces to be used in finished drawings.
Here's a representative sample:
- Miles Topeka to Kansas state fair?
- Where do breasts go?
- Length and curve of blade? Bloody?
- Number of panes in Shetland window?
- Lion? Unicorn?
- Bird and squirrel can be friends?
- Which fricking e has accent and is grave or aigu?
- Fat baby pajamas?
- Wolf toes?
- Would she say this to him like that?
- Mausoleum door locks?
- Ask Leigh how large ballerina ass?
- Ancient sheep face hair?
- Table can support bear? Two bears?
- How big should balls be?
Your encouragement in the comments to the last post is much appreciated. Please don't think I'm whining–the chance to publish a book is a blessing, and my worst day as a cartoonist is better than my best day trying not to smack rock-stupid university alumni across the face.
While the pen's busy the needles are idle, aside from occasional rounds on the second Primavera sock. I'm almost to the toe, and still loving the pattern. I expect to finish book and sock almost simultaneously.
I have promised myself that once the final packet of drawings flies off to Colorado, I may begin Sharon Miller's Wedding Ring Shawl. (Yes, I bought the pattern before it sold out. Nyah, nyah, nyah.) Mine will be worked in a handsome, red Merino laceweight. Of course, it's not as fine as the cobwebby Tinkerbell dental floss Mrs Miller recommends; so if I actually reach journey's end, the finished shawl won't slip through a wedding ring.
I wonder if that means I'd have to call it something else? If you call it a wedding ring shawl when it won't actually fit through a ring, does the Shetland lace cartel send goons to your apartment to shoot out your kneecaps?
Those chicks in Heirloom Knitting look pretty tough. I wouldn't put it past them.
* Internet fun fact: If you Google "Interweave Itches," the first result is my book.