Dateline Montana: woman uses giant zucchini from her garden to beat off a bear that was attacking her dog. Add this to your list of zucchini uses, should you have a bear situation.
Stephen Colbert, take note, and stock up.
Showing posts with label go bears. Show all posts
Showing posts with label go bears. Show all posts
Friday, September 24, 2010
Thursday, June 10, 2010
School for Scoundrels?
Every Golden Bear had a chuckle yesterday (I laughed out loud, and Mr. Hunting Creek said, "What are you laughing at?" and I told him and he laughed too.) when we read the news that the famous student-poseur who had lied and was admitted to Harvard was also admitted to Stanford!
We always teased Stanford students about their lax admission standards across the bay, but as my kids say, seriously? (Just say that you cured cancer, found the Holy Grail and discovered a Lost City in the Andes! It seems like they'll believe anything.)
A few years ago I was working on a project with a famous Private University that will remain nameless, and I was the person in charge of creating log-ins for the users. I sent emails to all the expected users, with explicit instructions on how to access their site. I was too sanguine, of course; my instructions would have been explicit to a Cal grad, but not to the prestigious Private University users.
The access instructions read in part:
Your user name is your first initial, last name, with the last four digits of your Social security number. The first password is the name of the University. The system will prompt you to change it once you are signed in.
For example, JSmith1234 Password: Private University Name
You would not believe how many users called me to say that their user names weren't working. Yes, you guessed it! They were all using JSmith1234
Or if they figured out what the name part was, had trouble with the name of their prestigious Private University as their password.
Go Bears!
We always teased Stanford students about their lax admission standards across the bay, but as my kids say, seriously? (Just say that you cured cancer, found the Holy Grail and discovered a Lost City in the Andes! It seems like they'll believe anything.)
A few years ago I was working on a project with a famous Private University that will remain nameless, and I was the person in charge of creating log-ins for the users. I sent emails to all the expected users, with explicit instructions on how to access their site. I was too sanguine, of course; my instructions would have been explicit to a Cal grad, but not to the prestigious Private University users.
The access instructions read in part:
Your user name is your first initial, last name, with the last four digits of your Social security number. The first password is the name of the University. The system will prompt you to change it once you are signed in.
For example, JSmith1234 Password: Private University Name
You would not believe how many users called me to say that their user names weren't working. Yes, you guessed it! They were all using JSmith1234
Or if they figured out what the name part was, had trouble with the name of their prestigious Private University as their password.
Go Bears!
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Great Moments in Fabric Literature, Vol VII
This left only one parcel. Harry picked it up and felt it. It was very light. He unwrapped it.
Something fluid and silvery gray went slithering to the floor where it lay in gleaming folds. Ron gasped.
"I've heard of those," he said in a hushed voice, dropping the box of Every Flavor Beans he'd gotten from Hermione. "If that's what I think it is - they're really rare, and really valuable."
"What is it?"
Harry picked the shimmering, silvery cloth off the floor. It was strange to the touch, like water woven into material.
"It's an invisibility cloak," said Ron, a look of awe on his face. "I'm sure it is - try it on."
Harry threw the cloak around his shoulders and Ron gave a yell.
"It is! Look down."
Harry looked down at his feet, but they were gone. He dashed to the mirror. Sure enough, his reflection looked back at him, just his head suspended in midair, his body completely invisible. He pulled the cloak over his head and his body vanished completely.
J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, 1997, pg 201
Invisibility cloaks, caps and other magic articles that render the user invisible abound in literature since the beginnings of literature. There was Hermes' magic cap, also H.G. Wells' Invisible Man, and many, many other examples.
For Harry Potter aficionados, the introduction of the invisibility cloak is a vital plot point. This cloak will make many appearances (disappearances?) throughout the story.
I first heard J.K. Rowling read from her book in an interview on NPR back in 1997, while I was driving home from work. She read the chapter where Harry goes to the zoo on Dudley's birthday, and it was so amusing and interesting that I went to Olsen's Bookstore the next day at lunchtime and bought two copies - one for my kids, and one for my nephew, for Christmas. When we opened presents, the kids (of course) had never heard of Harry Potter. So we read it aloud to each other that whole Christmas vacation. This is a book that should be read aloud to and with children, and we all three took turns reading it to each other. The story really isn't fully appreciated unless it is shared. (Especially the Uncle Vernon parts)
Go read it again - J.K. Rowling is so inventive it is a pleasure to imagine Every Flavor Beans, Chocolate Frogs, Grow-Your-Own-Warts Kit and more.
Invisibility cloaks might soon be more real than you think. Check out what they are up to at the University of California.
(Take that, Stanford! Go Bears!)
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