lantern ( sometimes also spelled jack o ' lantern ) is typically a carved pumpkin. it is associated chiefly with halloween. typically, the top is cut off, and the inside flesh then scooped out ; an image, usually a monstrous face, is carved onto the outside surface, and the lid replaced. during the night, a candle is placed inside to illuminate the effect. the term is not particularly common outside north america, although the practice of carving lanterns for halloween is. in folklore, an old irish folk tale tells of jack, a lazy yet shrewd farmer who uses a cross to trap the devil. one story says that jack tricked the devil into climbing an apple tree, and once he was up there, jack quickly placed crosses around the trunk or carved a cross into the bark, so that the devil couldn ' t get down. another myth says that jack put a key in the devil ' s pocket while he was suspended upside - down. another version of the myth says that jack was getting chased by some villagers from whom he had stolen from, when he met the devil, who claimed it was time for him to die. however, the thief stalled his death by tempting the devil with a chance to bedevil the church - going villagers chasing him. jack told the devil to turn into a coin with which he would pay for the stolen goods ( the devil could take on any shape he wanted ) ; later, when the coin / devil disappeared, the christian villagers would fight over who had stolen it. the devil agreed to this plan. he turned himself into a silver coin and jumped into jack ' s wallet, only to find himself next to a cross jack had also picked up in the village. jack had closed the wallet tight, and the cross stripped the devil of his powers ; and so he was trapped. in both myths, jack only lets the devil go when he agrees never to take his soul. after some time, the thief died, as all living things do. of course, his life had been too sinful for jack to go to heaven ; however, the devil had promised not to take his soul, and so he was barred from hell as well. jack now had nowhere to go. he asked how he would see where to go, as he had no light, and the devil mockingly tossed him an ember that would never burn out from the flames of hell. jack carved out one of his turnips ( which was his favorite food ), put the ember inside it, and began endlessly wandering the


the devil mockingly tossed him an ember that would never burn out from the flames of hell. jack carved out one of his turnips ( which was his favorite food ), put the ember inside it, and began endlessly wandering the earth for a resting place. he became known as " jack of the lantern ", or jack - o ' - lantern. there are variations on the legend : some versions include a " wise and good man ", or even god helping jack to prevail over the devil. there are different versions of jack ' s bargain with the devil. some variations say the deal was only temporary but the devil, embarrassed and vengeful, refuses jack ' s entry to hell after jack dies. jack is considered a greedy man and is not allowed into either heaven or hell, without any mention of the devil. despite the colorful legends, the term jack - o ' - lantern originally meant a night watchman, or man with a lantern, with the earliest known use in the mid - 17th century ; and later, meaning an ignis fatuus or will - o ' - the - wisp. in labrador and newfoundland, both names " jacky lantern " and " jack the lantern " refer to the will - o ' - the - wisp concept rather than the pumpkin carving aspect. halloween costumes are outfits worn on or around halloween. costuming became popular for halloween parties in america in the early 1900s, as often for adults as for children. the first mass - produced halloween costumes appeared in stores in the 1930s when trick - or - treating was becoming popular in the united states. what sets halloween costumes apart from costumes for other celebrations or days of dressing up is that they are often designed to imitate supernatural and scary beings. costumes are traditionally those of monsters such as vampires, ghosts, skeletons, witches, and devils. there are also costumes of pop culture figures like presidents, or film, television, and cartoon characters. another popular trend is for women ( and in some cases, men ) to use halloween as an excuse to wear particularly revealing costumes, showing off more skin than would be socially acceptable otherwise. halloween originated in ireland ireland is said to be the birthplace of halloween. much like the united states, the irish celebrate the holiday with costumes, trick - or - treating, and community gatherings. at those gatherings, typically after trick - or - treating, games are played, including a game called ‘ snap - apple ’. the game begins with an apple being tied to a doorframe or tree and players


or - treating, and community gatherings. at those gatherings, typically after trick - or - treating, games are played, including a game called ‘ snap - apple ’. the game begins with an apple being tied to a doorframe or tree and players then attempt to bite the hanging apple. the game is much like ‘ bobbing for apples ’ here in the united states. want to know more? click here for more information on how the irish celebrate halloween! a halloween tradition in austria involves bread, water and a lighted lamp. some of the locals will leave bread, water and a lighted lamp on the table before retiring on halloween night. considered a magical night, halloween to austrians was a way to welcome the dead souls back to earth. in belgium, some believe it is unlucky if a black cat enters a home or travels on a ship. also, much like in the united states, belgium citizens believe that it is unlucky for a black cat to cross one ' s path. on halloween night, a custom there is to light candles in memory of dead relatives. with the arrival of scottish and irish immigrants in the 1800s, modern halloween celebrations in canada began. festivities include parties, trick - or - treating and the decorating of homes with pumpkins and corn stalks, as well as the carving of jack o ' lanterns. in china, the halloween festival is known as teng chieh. food and water are placed in front of photographs of family members who have departed while bonfires and lanterns are lit in order to light the paths of the spirits as they travel the earth on halloween night. worshippers in buddhist temples fashion " boats of the law " from paper, which are then burned in the evening hours. there are two purposes to this custom : as a remembrance of the dead and in order to free the spirits of the " pretas " in order that they might ascend to heaven. " pretas " are the spirits of those who died as a result of an accident or drowning and whose bodies were consequently never buried. want to know more? click here for more information on chinese halloween traditions. on halloween night in czechoslovakia, chairs are placed by the fireside. one chair is placed to commemorate each living family member and one for each family member ' s spirit. while the irish and scots preferred turnips, english children made " punkies " out of large beets, upon which they carved a design of their choice. then, they would carry their " punkies " through the streets while singing the " punkie


irish and scots preferred turnips, english children made " punkies " out of large beets, upon which they carved a design of their choice. then, they would carry their " punkies " through the streets while singing the " punkie night song " as they knocked on doors and asked for money. halloween became guy fawkes night and moved a few days later. recently, it has been celebrated on october 31st, in addition to guy fawkes night. want to know more? click here for more information on how the men, women and children of england celebrate halloween! britain - guy fawkes day on the evening of november 5th, bonfires are lit throughout england. effigies are burned and fireworks are set off. although the day is around the same time and has some similar traditions, this celebration has little to do with halloween. as martin luther ' s protestant reformation began to spread, the celebration of halloween ended. in 1517, on halloween, martin luther attempted to begin reformation of the catholic church. the formation of the protestant church was the result instead. they didn ' t believe in saints ; therefore, they had no reason to celebrate the eve of all saints ' day. however, a new autumn ritual did materialize. guy fawkes day festivities were designed to commemorate the execution of a notorious english traitor, guy fawkes. want to know more about guy fawkes? click here to learn more about why britain commemorates guy fawkes day. france - la fete d ' halloween in france, halloween is not celebrated to honor the dead. it is considered an ‘ american holiday ’ and until 1996, it was virtually unknown in the country. however, because of the love of parties, fetes ’ and costume events in france, a rapid rise of the holiday has been noticed in recent years. foreign residents brought details of halloween to the country for years before remnants of the day began to stick in french culture. in 1982, the american dream bar / restaurant in paris began celebrating halloween. the village of saint germain - en - laye held a halloween party on october 24th, 1996, in the middle of the day, to give locals an idea of what the holiday was all about. so, do you want to know more about how the french celebrate halloween? click here to learn more about the revolution of halloween in france! to not risk harm to, or from the returning spirits, in germany, people put away their knives on halloween night. hong kong calls their halloween festivities, " yue


" i am not saying they are not well - intentioned, " said zak smith, staff attorney with the natural resources defense council. " but i am not sure their choices make them the best environmental stewards they could be. " the debate over sonars and whales has gone on for years. it centers on balancing the need to defend the united states, while safeguarding its natural resources. it has also played out in court. in 2008, for example, the u. s. supreme court lifted sanctions placed on the navy over its underwater sonar testing. environmental interests, said chief justice john roberts for the majority, " are plainly outweighed by the navy ' s need to conduct realistic training exercises to ensure that it is able to neutralize the threat posed by enemy submarines. " smith argued that the use of lookouts aboard navy ships is not fully effective. " most marine mammals don ' t spend much time at the surface, " he said. " when they do, you better have good weather conditions to see them. " smith points to other consequences from the use of sonar and other acoustic sources off california and hawaii. government estimates for 2014 to 2019 indicate there may be about 2 million cases of temporary hearing loss among marine animals, smith told cnn. " marine mammals use hearing the same way we use sight " to find food, he said. " this kind of constant barrage and harassment is not a recipe for healthy populations, " smith added. van name challenged smith ' s assessment, saying the 2 million number includes all behavioral and " temporary " responses, such as an animal turning its head, stopping feeding or moving out of the area.


functional behavioral assessments : what, why, when, where, and who? stephen starin, ph. d. the recent amendments to idea are final. school districts are now required to conduct functional behavioral analyses of problem behaviors, under certain circumstances. idea does not provide specific guidelines regarding the conduct of a functional behavioral assessment. each school district is left to its own devices when interpreting the guidelines and may opt for lower quality standards. what is a " functional behavioral assessment "? the term " functional behavioral assessment " comes from what is called a " functional assessment " or " functional analysis " in the field of applied behavior analysis. this is the process of determining the cause ( or " function " ) of behavior before developing an intervention. the intervention must be based on the hypothesized cause ( function ) of behavior. why do functional behavioral assessments? failure to base the intervention on the specific cause ( function ) very often results in ineffective and unnecessarily restrictive procedures. for example, consider the case of a young child who has learned that screaming is an effective way of avoiding or escaping unpleasant tasks. using timeout in this situation would provide the child with exactly what he wants ( avoiding the task ) and is likely to make the problem worse, not better. without an adequate functional behavioral assessment, we would not know the true function of the young childis screaming and therefore may select an inappropriate intervention. how do you determine the cause or function of behavior? there are three ways of getting at the function ( cause ) of the behavior : ( a ) interviews and rating scales, several different interviews and rating scales have been developed to try to get at the function ( cause ) of behavior. however, reliability is usually poor and these should be used only as a starting point for systematic and direct observation of the personis behavior. relying exclusively on interviews and rating scales should neverbe considered a functional assessment. besides having poor reliability, it would never hold up in court with an expert witness. a more reliable method involves directly observing the person ' s behavior in his or her natural environment and analyzing the behavioris antecedents ( environmental events that immediately precede the problem behavior ) and consequences ( environmental events that immediately follow the problem behavior ). types of problem behavior problem behavior typically falls into one or more of three general categories : ( a ) behavior that produces attention and other desired events ( e. g., access to toys, desired activities ), systematic manipulation of environment in some cases, however, direct observation does not give a clear picture of the behavioris


general categories : ( a ) behavior that produces attention and other desired events ( e. g., access to toys, desired activities ), systematic manipulation of environment in some cases, however, direct observation does not give a clear picture of the behavioris functions and systematically manipulating various environmental events becomes necessary. the most common way of systematically manipulating the environment is to put the person in several different situations and carefully observe how the behavior changes. for example, to determine the function of screaming, we could arrange for attention to be given to the child each time she screams and measure how frequently screaming occurs. we could also make demands on the child, terminating them each time she screams and measure how frequently it occurs. in addition, we could leave the child alone and measure how often screaming occurs. if screaming is more frequent when attention is given, we hypothesize that it occurs to get attention. if screaming is more frequent when demands are made, we can assume that screaming has served to let the person escape or avoid demands. finally, if screaming is more frequent when left alone, we can assume that it is occurring because of its sensory consequences. this third method should be reserved only for situations in which the functions of behavior are not clear through systematic and direct observation. what about qualifications and training? an important question is " who should be involved in the functional behavioral assessment? " the interview is important in gathering preliminary information that will guide later direct observation. as such, it is important to talk to the people who know the child the best : parents, teachers and significant others. direct observation should be carried out only by a person who has been thoroughly trained on collecting and analyzing this type of information. directly manipulating environment events should be conducted only by a well - trained behavior analyst or someone else with a high degree of training and experience conducting these manipulations for they can pose danger to the person if not done correctly. as can be seen, a functional behavioral assessment is more than a group of people sitting around a table trying to determine the cause. although it is important to gather information from significant people in the personis life, it is not enough. someone knowledgeable about behavior must be in the classroom and / or family home directly observing and measuring the behavior. although this takes time, it is usually time well spent because the intervention is more likely to be effective than one developed without careful consideration of the behavioris function ( s ). donit waste valuable time! time is precious. time should not be wasted on interventions ( behavioral or otherwise ) when there is no


someone saying negative things about the harry potter series practically elicits the same reaction as cursing motherhood, apple pie, and baseball - - how dare anyone question something, anything, that motivates children to read? reading is a wholesome activity. reading is good. reading is fundamental. reading is the foundation for a literate, democratic society. reading is the cornerstone of learning. reading is all that and more. the act of reading, as well as what we have access to read, is largely bound to cultural expectations and tastes. intrinsic, dominant social values - - generally class - based ideals - - permeate the literature we consume as readers and as buyers. moreover, these same values and ideals link to the place of the book and of literacy in a society. with the current dominance of television, film / video, and the internet in our students ’ lives, some suggest that the power of the mass media ’ s influence in north america bodes poorly for the printed word. rather than lament the death of the book or the demise of young people ’ s reading skills in the mass media age as many do, i want to argue here that educators need to examine our own and our students ’ reading practices and preferences with the hope of discovering how literacy can straddle the real and the presumed divides between elite and mass cultural aesthetics that exist in society. in this context, then, harry potter ’ s real magic - - both as a literary figure and as a media icon - - is that the character bridges the loftier reaches of fiction and the lower realms of commercial enterprise. because of his ability to span literature and consumerism, harry is both delightful and disturbing in the messages he sends to youngsters. consequently, the boy wizard becomes a pivotal element for showing students how contemporary reading and writing practices must include print and electronic forms. a tale of two harrys to truly comprehend the complexity in media literacy, we have to take an interdisciplinary approach that embraces the fields of cognition, education, media theory, and literacy studies. this is because the act of reading makes certain demands upon the individual, especially in the mass media age. as media theorist joshua meyrowitz writes in no sense of place, " a medium that is in short supply or that requires a very special encoding or decoding skill is more likely to be exploited by an elite class that has the time and the resources to gain access to it " ( 16 ). in this passage, meyrowitz quintessentially describes the current state of reading


or decoding skill is more likely to be exploited by an elite class that has the time and the resources to gain access to it " ( 16 ). in this passage, meyrowitz quintessentially describes the current state of reading. given the heavy influence of electronic media in our society, book reading is a channel that is often given short shrift. reading is a medium that depends upon finely developed encoding and decoding skills. as for reading being a codified skill made the most of by an elite class, the 1996 and 1998 naep reading and writing scores show an increasing gap between students in wealthier districts and those in poorer districts. likewise, meyrowitz ’ s question of the access to reading material directly connects to the intersection of mass media and social class. educators cannot overlook that book publishing is a multi - billion - dollar medium that generally depends upon short runs and big hits in the marketplace. this means book selections are resource driven, particularly in the young adult fiction market. if publishers can ’ t make a profit on a manuscript, then even the best ideas rarely go forward. while books are often elevated to a higher status than is television or movies, many teachers tend to forget that what we all read depends greatly upon publishing concerns. what teachers and students have access to in print is usually decided upon by large publishing houses that market books and by agents who frequently develop ancillary marketing deals for popular authors. all of this leads to the trouble with that popular boy magician, harry potter. if teachers are astute, the trouble with harry can be seen in any bookstore. the problem is not with the harry potter book series. harry potter the literary figure is a terrific motivator for children ( and adults ) to read, regardless of their socioeconomic class. the potter story line mixes elements of high and low cultural tastes into an appealing blend that crosses class lines. author j. k. rowlings deftly blends the qualities of highbrow literary fiction - - strong character development, emphasis on basic philosophical, psychological or social issues, and heroic figures - - with the social stratification and action - drama sequences that reflect lower class entertainment. the collapsing of high and low cultural taste is not the trouble with harry, though. the trouble is with harry potter the commercialized figure. this harry potter is an incredible temptation for children ( and for well - intentioned adults ) to purchase cheap plastic " harry " eyeglasses, halloween costumes, mouse pads, key chains, telephone calling cards, posters, and


the commercialized figure. this harry potter is an incredible temptation for children ( and for well - intentioned adults ) to purchase cheap plastic " harry " eyeglasses, halloween costumes, mouse pads, key chains, telephone calling cards, posters, and other sundry items placed around bookstore end caps and center aisle kiosks. instructors should not forget the tons of harryphernalia soon to follow once the upcoming movie is released. harry potter lunch boxes, thermos containers, and book bags loom on the horizon. a recent trip to the local drugstore showed me that even reach toothpaste is game for harry ’ s image. in short, more harry, more harryphernalia, more money. in these instances, harry potter the boy wizard of mass marketing becomes a much more ambiguous representative for the benefits of reading. consequently, educators must ask the question, does the rise of this harry potter mean more children will be reading, more adolescents will be developing the love of language, and more students will be learning literacy skills? the trouble with harry, then, is there are actually two harrys - - one who promotes children ' s literacy skills and one who shills for any number of cheap consumer products. frequently these two harrys are conflated in the real world, and their conflicting purposes are sometimes overlooked by well - intentioned teachers. while many educators push to motivate their students to read and figure that if harry motivates kids toward stronger literacy skills, then they are all for harry. yet, some forget that the hows and whys behind a person ' s reading sometimes are equally as important as the act of reading itself. how carefully and how critically a reader interprets the information presented to him or her in a given context is frequently as important as being able to read. moreover, why someone chooses a particular selection to read or why someone finds a book appealing regularly reflects back to how a text is presented in the marketplace. these points are especially salient when acts of reading connect to media literacy. how and why we read information presented to us through the mass media can make the difference between naive and critical decision - making. understanding media literacy in educational contexts teachers and administrators sometimes forget that reading is not necessarily a transferable act - - the reading strategies used in language arts or english will not always cross disciplinary boundaries, for instance. likewise, reading a book for pleasure is not quite the same process as reading for course work. readers select information quite differently depending upon the situation in which they are reading.


used in language arts or english will not always cross disciplinary boundaries, for instance. likewise, reading a book for pleasure is not quite the same process as reading for course work. readers select information quite differently depending upon the situation in which they are reading. more importantly for this discussion, the act of reading print - based texts differs in varying degrees from reading other media texts. literacy theorists sherry macaul, jackie giles, and rita rodenberg note the technological shift in literacy reflects a range of innovations " from the ways in which information is accessed and viewed to the processes and mediums by which messages are constructed and represented " ( 53 ). therefore, in our media - affected culture, literacy is not a one - size for all situation ; as we have directly seen with the rise of computer technology, literacy is protean. a child can be highly literate in one subject area, yet nearly illiterate in another. clearly with respect to the degree of mass media influence and the volume of information bits streaming into their homes, most north american children and teenagers are woefully media illiterate. for all the viewing and message receiving these young adults do, a large number of them possess rudimentary levels of media literacy. what does it mean to be media literate? being media literate means we have created knowledge structures - - schema - - to interpret or provide a perspective on the media messages that surround us. we cannot compare the cognitive processes involved in reading versus watching television or film, as they are not equivalent skills. more than the cognitive domain that dominates the traditional, academic " reading / writing " notions of literacy, though, media literacy spans emotional, aesthetic, and moral domains as well. consequently, the schema media literate people generate function more like a multi - dimensional scale than the hierarchical scaffolding model generally associated with literacy studies. these media knowledge structures emerge when we actively engage in various media experiences and test those new media experiences against the skills and information we have gleaned elsewhere, such as from parents or family members, schools, religious institutions, or other authority figures. prior media experiences can even provide the skills and information one needs to analyze current situations. so, regardless of how old we are, people continually generate new mental representations to accommodate changes in our media use. therefore, our worldviews as well as children ' s and teenagers ' worldviews are constructed and reconstructed through media use. that is why media literacy has become equally important as academic literacy in north american classrooms. great numbers of educators


media use. therefore, our worldviews as well as children ' s and teenagers ' worldviews are constructed and reconstructed through media use. that is why media literacy has become equally important as academic literacy in north american classrooms. great numbers of educators believe the myth that students are highly media literate because of their large amounts of media consumption. media educators ladislaus semali and ann watts pailliotet suggest otherwise ; instead of children becoming increasingly more literate, these media - distorted boundaries " between school and home, fact and fiction, narrative and live reporting are confusing " ( 14 ). this is because youngsters, even the most media - savvy adolescents, are still building the multi - dimensional schema they need to develop the broad overall perspective people use to separate the superficial from the meaningful. usually, children and teenagers operate with very limited knowledge structures about the media ; they tend to focus on the recognition of surface information like song lyrics, television characters, actors ' or characters ' names, and so on. this surface information pattern closely models the basic sets of facts we find in reading textbooks or newspapers. that means children and others who can recite the entire harry potter ensemble or who can recall a book passage from memory may be strong readers or recallers of general information, and may be considered highly literate in the conventional sense. yet their media literacy functions at a very low level, perhaps bordering on media aliteracy in that the surface knowledge is apparent but deeper levels of knowledge are missing. educators must note that well - developed cognitive domains alone do not best serve a truly media literate person. many juveniles do not yet display an adequate degree of reflexivity about their role as interpreters of media information to demonstrate they understand the full range of emotional, visual, and moral value manipulation that occurs through the crafting and editing of messages ( potter 5 - 9 ). as such, it is conceivable that the harry potter many adolescent readers fell in love with in the literary series can, and most likely will, change dramatically as the young wizard ' s image moves to film and to a local fast - food restaurant near them in the future. however, inexpert student media users do not always see the changes one media representation has over another, particularly if the shifts involve a beloved character. they often miss the multiple layers of meaning that exist in media messages. this is because the youngsters ' analytical, evaluative, synthesizing, abstracting, and inferencing abilities are not as finely


shifts involve a beloved character. they often miss the multiple layers of meaning that exist in media messages. this is because the youngsters ' analytical, evaluative, synthesizing, abstracting, and inferencing abilities are not as finely honed as they need to be. therefore, scores of young media consumers tend to be more susceptible in automatically accepting the prevailing ideas, morals, attitudes, and explanations presented by the media. in all probability, the harry potter found in movies and commercials will correspond to recognized or desired personal characteristics familiar to children and teens, which in turn will establish an opening for advertisers and others to shape youngsters ' attitudes about new film stars and products. this process, known as canalization, subtly influences people ' s attitudes by making them more receptive to a product through linking that product to our emotional needs ( potter 271 ). hence it is highly plausible that through the media push caused by the film and its subsequent commercialization of all things potter, the clever boy wizard will become a pitchman for any number of products directed at young consumers. without more finely attuned media literacy practices, in all likelihood, scores of young adults will conflate the harry potter of literature with the harry potter of commercialism without developing the awareness needed to separate the types of media exposure the two harrys offer them. harry works his magic again : transforming the boy wizard into a study in media literacy this leads us to how harry potter the literary character can teach educators ways to introduce media literacy to our students, regardless of their ages. teachers know harry potter has the power to reach children and stimulate their conventional literacy skills. students reading the harry potter book series engage in a wide range of sensory stimulation, as they layer their own images upon the sentences j. k. rowlings produced. writing and reading teachers clearly see how rowlings ' s characters and stories can train young readers in the left - brain linguistic and analytical patterns they need to develop strong, sustained reading and writing abilities. working through various scenes in the tomes, students develop creativity and analytic thinking as they interact with the storyline. moreover, while reading these books, students who are active in the reading process internalize sequential speech or syntactic structures, all of which become important foundations for future learning. then, too, through rowlings ' s series young readers learn the conventions of the written texts, such as punctuation, capitalization, pagination, and paragraphing. these elements are not necessarily found in broadcast media, and items like


then, too, through rowlings ' s series young readers learn the conventions of the written texts, such as punctuation, capitalization, pagination, and paragraphing. these elements are not necessarily found in broadcast media, and items like punctuation and capitalization take on new forms in cybermedia. from a cognitive perspective, one of the greatest concerns teachers should have with harry potter becoming a media icon connects to students developing stronger right - brain patterns, such as relying more upon holistic visual or verbal cues like color, motion, and sound effects instead of text - based cues to determine required information from a storyline ( healy 210 - 11 ). as a movie or commercial image, harry potter feeds upon the right hemisphere of the brain ' s need for novelty and for understanding the story ' s global context ( healy 124 - 25 ). therefore, children and teenagers who become dependent solely upon the film or commercial versions of harry potter without the connection to rowlings ' s books will most likely capture the narrative ' s gist, but they may miss the more interesting or important details connected to really understanding the tale. the danger in this is some students become untrained in the art of pursuing meaning and reflection in their reading and writing. in these instances, students will not grasp foreshadowing techniques like asking questions of what will happen next in the plot nor will they make mental connections to prior learned information. these are critical reading skills that do transfer to written communication, and educators need to discover ways to enhance these abilities in students whose primary leisure activity is television or film viewing. secondary areas to consider as harry potter moves toward film, video, advertising, and television are the types of effects the change from literary figure to media icon will elicit in young or adolescent viewers. media influence is a two - stage process, displaying immediate and long - term effects. immediate effects occur during exposure to a message or directly thereafter. some of these outcomes temporarily tend to reinforce or extend an individual ' s schema. for instance, after seeing the harry potter movie, young viewers may adopt attitudes or behaviors that correspond to the hero or heroine. alternatively, children may have heightened emotions connected to what happens to harry or his friends for a short period during or slightly after the film. in these situations, youngsters may want to dress like or act like harry or one of the characters for a period of time. other outcomes, though, depend upon long term exposure to messages that people internalize as cultural or personal beliefs. for the sake of argument, let


image. especially in advertising contexts, this ready - made trust between young reader and character can be exploited in ad copy to make suspect claims. a second faulty reasoning method, the ecological fallacy, can also emerge. in this setting, a message would show a viewer that there is a causal relationship between two items merely because they occur simultaneously. for instance, the successful release of another harry potter book coincides with a blockbuster opening for the harry potter film. there may be a number of reasons for the book and the movie doing well that do not account for the simultaneous release, such as the time of year both are released or the amount of advertising dollars spent to create a pent - up desire for youngsters to purchase the new book or to see the movie. sophisticated media users can detect the ecological fallacy ; unsophisticated users generally do not. many children and adolescents may not recognize all the underlying reasons as to why the book and film are huge successes and may want to see coincidences where there may not be any. similarly, in these situations, inexperienced thinkers also may fall prey to post hoc fallacies. they may assume just because something preceded an event - - such as the movie being released before the book - - it is the cause of whatever transpired. certainly the " bandwagon " fallacy also can come to the fore in this context. if news reports, advertisements, and word - of - mouth reflects that everyone - - or seemingly everyone - - is watching, reading or buying harry potter, then inexperienced media consumers become easy targets for these powerful messages. children and teens are particularly susceptible to bandwagon fallacies because their range of experiences with media messages and real life interactions are limited. the bandwagon effect is particularly successful with those who have a lack of self - esteem and want to be like others. to many young minds, if everyone is seeing the movie, purchasing the book, or buying harryphernalia, the possibility of being left out of this consuming frenzy may play upon his or her self - worth. without solid media literacy skills to dismantle bandwagon messaging techniques, adolescents remain especially susceptible to feeling like the odd one out if they do not purchase the latest item or see the hottest movie or buy the latest fashion. lastly, the distinct variations between the two harrys may create intentional fallacies, which is the idea that what the message maker ' s intended meaning is what the viewers take it to be. many times the media will construct intentional fallacies to shape our ideas about a


distinct variations between the two harrys may create intentional fallacies, which is the idea that what the message maker ' s intended meaning is what the viewers take it to be. many times the media will construct intentional fallacies to shape our ideas about a product or a program. usually, though, there is some degree of separation between the message ' s encoded meaning and how the audience decodes it. for instance, with the harry potter book series, the author intends the message to be a child ' s fantasy and the publisher intends for the book to be a huge seller. however, the readers may have a variety of different and unexpected uses for the book. for instance, readers may share or exchange copies of their books with others, thus reducing the numbers of copies sold. or, adults might hold harry potter costume parties, where parents and their friends dress up like the characters of the book. some parents might read the book aloud and tape their readings for younger children who cannot yet read. these uses subvert the original intentions of the book. children, too, can be shown how they might challenge media - generated intentional fallacies with their own multiple uses of the harry potter movie. with the film, the producers intend viewers to visit a theater, rent, or purchase the movie. they do not expect the audience to share or dub the vcr tapes or dvd discs for friends. nor are the film ' s creators interested in how children and teenagers appropriate new meanings for the scenes, such as using the movie ' s language, characters or situations as a secret code to describe school, family or neighborhood relationships. however, there is much more for us to consider with the two harrys than the types of logical traps they can set for students. the shift from harry potter the literary character to harry potter the media icon should also have educators questioning how the change will further desensitize young readers ' relationships with the printed word. j. k. rowlings ' books instill a sense of wonderment and surprise in young adults, as many teachers and parents can attest. like the numerous media studies that repeatedly show watching even a single television program - - especially if violence and aggression are featured - - lowers children ' s sensitivity toward these actions, highly entertaining television shows, videos or movies filled with spectacular special effects also reduce viewers ' impressions toward low impact programming. reading and writing are very low impact programming forms. both depend upon great skill in encoding and decoding messages in a particular context and the entertainment level is rooted much more deeply in one ' s special


effects also reduce viewers ' impressions toward low impact programming. reading and writing are very low impact programming forms. both depend upon great skill in encoding and decoding messages in a particular context and the entertainment level is rooted much more deeply in one ' s special interests. therefore, it is entirely plausible that for many youngsters a harry potter movie filled with incredible computer generated graphics or fantastic special effects will be far more entertaining and impressive than reading the series or writing about what they have read or seen. rather than believe children and teenagers will turn to the movie version of harry potter because the story is easier to consume, though, educators need to realize that the amazing technological effects connected to the portrayal of a boy wizard will desensitize these viewers to the acts of reading and writing. this is a far more subtle use of the media desensitizing viewers than perhaps many are accustomed to, and one that directly affects how youngsters connect to the printed word. more than what the hogwarts academy expected : using the magic of harry potter to teach media literacy in grades 6 - 12 the standard approach to instilling media literacy in children or teenage consumers is to inoculate them. inoculation simply refers to the repeated exposure of audience ' s attitudes to various messages and claims with the purpose of making media claims less effective. however, inoculation is generally an unsophisticated approach to developing media literacy. media outlets spend millions on psychographic and demographic information to subvert most inoculation techniques, and advertisers and programmers use inoculation to sway consumers and viewers toward specific products. so the activities educators would most likely line up to combat media messages more than likely pale in comparison to what skilled corporate manipulators do on a daily basis. instead of inoculating students to create media literacy, teachers might achieve more by using media commercialization as a significant learning experience for their classes. this is where the two harry potters emerge as central figures. students can use their prior experience with the harry potter of literary fame to shape their current media knowledge structures. with the flood of harryphernalia in bookstores and shopping malls, teachers can ask students to become critical thinkers about their own media consumption using the following writing exercise. using excerpts of the film, commercials featuring the harry potter characters, or news stories related to the movie, have students analyze their potential for consumerism. the teacher writes ten ideas on the board related to media influence - - for instance, opinion creation, opinion change, reinforcement, emotional reactions,


the harry potter characters, or news stories related to the movie, have students analyze their potential for consumerism. the teacher writes ten ideas on the board related to media influence - - for instance, opinion creation, opinion change, reinforcement, emotional reactions, imitation, nutrition, instant gratification, materialism, and blame. students then determine what characteristics would need to be present in the film, commercial, or news story to influence them to see the movie, buy the product, or pay attention to the television story. this is akin to developing foreshadowing techniques in conventional literacy. to facilitate the next phase in the assignment, teachers fill the board with the class ' s responses. stepping back to examine what students generated is an important stage in encouraging students to develop reflexivity. teachers should ask students to rank which attributes would influence them the most. once this activity is finished, students write a short profile explaining how they might lower the probability of these attributes influencing children and teenagers to overconsume. to extend the reflection, teachers can have students probe their own reactions to harry potter that put them at risk for indiscriminate spending on harryphernalia. in journals or in class discussion, students can question more deeply into those effects that play upon youngsters ' self - esteem and how those influences shape a person ' s reasons for succumbing to media messages. beyond having students study their own habits as media consumers, teachers can motivate their classes to think about the indirect media effects on others using harry potter. in this instance, students generate examples where their friends formed an opinion based on media messages about harry potter without ever being exposed to the original event ( book or film, for instance ). then after sharing these student - produced situations related to others, the instructor asks the class what their opinion is on harry potter found in the book, the movie, and the commercial. using the chalkboard, the teacher puts forward all the student opinions. once the class has finished airing its opinions, the teacher should ask whether the class ' s opinions are based on overheard media messages or from them being directly exposed to the book, the film, or the commercials. students are then asked to write about what conditions changed their opinions about harry potter. afterward, students should classify whether these conditions are connected to direct or indirect exposure to the media event. the point of this exercise is to show how discussing whether people are most affected by direct or indirect exposure to the media, which helps students discover the complexity of the media effects process. using media


are connected to direct or indirect exposure to the media event. the point of this exercise is to show how discussing whether people are most affected by direct or indirect exposure to the media, which helps students discover the complexity of the media effects process. using media commercialization as a significant learning experience for reading, writing, and thinking suggests teachers need to show students how to adapt to new learning frameworks. far too frequently, inexperienced users misinterpret media schemas as real world schemas, and the consequences generally run from the embarrassing to the dangerous. with children and teenagers, a lack of awareness connected to their misinterpreting media schema for real world schema can create anything from social faux pas to poor decision - making. again, most students ' familiarity with the harry potter book series allows instructors to work with their classes to enhance the students ' sensitivity to media schemas. as a class, teachers should have students select a chapter of one harry potter book to read as a group. students take turns reading the passages, and while one student is reading, the others should take notes about the schemas. for character schemas, students would list the central figures and briefly describe them. to explain the narrative schema present in the chapter, students need to jot down the important events that occur. likewise, to determine setting schema, students write two or three things that take place in the setting and two or three items that would never occur in the setting. students identify thematic schema in the chapter by briefly summarizing what was the chapter ' s moral or intended moral. finally, to discover the chapter ' s rhetorical schema, students list the author ' s purpose for writing this chapter. was rowling trying to entertain, to inform, to persuade, to fantasize, or to achieve a number of purposes? students repeat this schema identification activity again, this time while watching a ten to fifteen minute portion of the harry potter movie. lastly, the teacher should show about ten to fifteen minutes of television advertisements for harryphernalia, and students once more categorize the schema. upon completing the three exercises, the class discusses its findings. students should be asked what, if any, schematic elements stayed the same across the examples. what schematic elements differed? students need to consider whether a change in media generated a change in the schematic elements. students also should talk about whether the media schemas and genres affect how people receive messages ( adapted from


the examples. what schematic elements differed? students need to consider whether a change in media generated a change in the schematic elements. students also should talk about whether the media schemas and genres affect how people receive messages ( adapted from potter 89 ). these activities illustrate how teachers can work with students to reduce their levels of mindless exposure to any media material, whether print or electronic. students discover ways to hone their media reading skills, and they learn that their passive reading of the media leads to media effects clouding their thinking far more pervasively than usual. instead of making claims in their argument - - e. g., that parents or some other authority should control media messages directed toward children, a common byproduct of inoculation - - youngsters who become active readers of the media determine how to negotiate the information presented to them. this is an especially important ability for those young people who form parasocial relationships with media characters based on the character ' s attractiveness or sociability. passive media readers rarely consider how storylines and contexts shape a character ' s likability or personality ; therefore, these viewers are regularly affected by hypermnesia. active media readers, however, question storylines and contexts as well as external media messages sent by advertisers and news reports about these characters. consequently, these children and teenagers develop the analytical skills that allow them to separate the entertainment qualities from whatever informational content exists. as they increase their analytical skills through repeated media literacy exercises, students expand their abilities to recognize how a change in medium can make a difference in how a message is constructed and received. in other words, students discover how to be " situationally sensitive " ( simons, morreale, and gronbeck 76 ) toward mass media messages. teachers who draw upon cross - media comparisons in their assignments do well in showing students how the same information is presented differently through various genres. using the activities presented earlier in this paper, instructors help students understand the ways in which a message affects viewers. to extend this idea into students ' writing, teachers can have the class keep a journal related to all the harry potter news stories, radio jingles, internet ads, and television commercials they see for two weeks. students write down what elements of the messages appeal to them - - colors, sounds, melodies, graphics, and so on. at the end of the two week period, have students write harry potter messages for different media - - a newspaper article, a radio or television ad, a billboard


messages appeal to them - - colors, sounds, melodies, graphics, and so on. at the end of the two week period, have students write harry potter messages for different media - - a newspaper article, a radio or television ad, a billboard, a short scene from the next movie, or a news report for a local station on the harry potter phenomenon. the process teaches students that writing effective media messages is sometimes difficult. since successful media messages depend upon a number of artistic qualities to appeal to viewers, students learn about the aesthetic dimension of the media ( adapted from potter 381 ). the class quickly discovers that those elements that work best in one medium often will not transfer. consequently, students must learn how to work with various linguistic, aural, and visual aspects to create expert sounding media messages. developing media literacy frameworks for young adults requires educators to move beyond the usual inoculation or academic literacy approaches. instructors must think of literacy with a much wider goal in mind, as reading and writing have become far more complex in the information age. just as instructors present critical thinking skills in reading and writing, they must also now include critical viewing to the literacy mix. since youngsters have constructed basic media literacy frameworks by the time they enter school, teachers need to help them move toward advanced abilities so children learn not to take media information at face value. this suggests that literacy is, indeed, rooted in both social and technological practices, as educational theorist b. c. bruce notes ( 303 ). students ' early learning experiences are grounded in commingled forms and representations of sound, animation, moving images, and electronically generated meanings ( macaul et al. 55 ). these practices affect how students react to the printed word in academic settings. therefore, teachers must come to terms with an expanded view of literacy that encompasses these influences upon reading and writing. mass media and media commercialization do not have to destroy traditional notions of literacy. students who understand that informational flow patterns shift with a change in medium may better understand a society that is becoming increasingly media - saturated. even though teachers are incorporating media literacy activities in their classes, academic literacy skills should not suffer, as students still are able to use reading and writing to test new ideas and propose new knowledge structures even though the characters or images they use for inquiry are different. the result of merging print and electronic literacy abilities may be that students move toward developing an integrated notion of reading and writing across multiple media genres as well as becoming more media savvy. pleasure and literacy before concluding, let me


for inquiry are different. the result of merging print and electronic literacy abilities may be that students move toward developing an integrated notion of reading and writing across multiple media genres as well as becoming more media savvy. pleasure and literacy before concluding, let me suggest that harry potter stories do bring many people who are young and old a great sense of pleasure. but, as media scholars lawrence grossberg, ellen wartella, and d. charles whitney suggest, " [ p ] leasure is a deceptively simple notion [... ] it is in fact a very complex phenomenon, and we actually know very little about the mechanisms of the production of pleasure " ( 253 ). so much of what defines pleasure is emotionally generated. yet we should not forget that pleasure is also economically and culturally situated. whether one reads to escape the mundane, to reinforce one ' s self through identification with a character, to live vicariously through another ' s experiences, to feel catharsis, or for any number of other reasons, all bear some connection to a media product - - the book. if pleasure relates to traditional literacy, then why not have pleasure link up with media literacy to interrogate what we see on television, through an advertisement, or in a film? harry potter can teach reading and writing instructors how to bring media literacy into their classrooms through the introduction of pleasure. educators recognize the young magician ' s power to charm children and teenagers into developing a love of words. schoolteachers and others, however, must also realize the boy wizard can cast many unwanted spells upon young audiences as a media pitchman. ultimately, the trouble with harry is that until teachers and students recognize that he sends a number of messages beyond his literary self - - and we all must learn how to address these messages to function in various situations - - in most writing classes literacy will remain segregated between a privileged print and a mass electronic form. a parallel example of hypermnesia would be how late - twentysomethings bond around the values and images linked to the brady bunch. for a short period in the late 1980s - early 1990s, there was brady material across all media. my college students during that time could not only recite the entire brady bunch theme song, but could reel off lengthy passages from episodes and arcane facts about the program. similarly, i see my current group of college students display hypermnesia over the simpsons television program. based on these two phenonmena, a similar occurrence with harry potter should be expected. the classroom exercises are designed for


about the program. similarly, i see my current group of college students display hypermnesia over the simpsons television program. based on these two phenonmena, a similar occurrence with harry potter should be expected. the classroom exercises are designed for grades 6 - 12. all activities can be adjusted to meet the demands of class size, student demographics, and teacher or departmental expectations for grade level performance. my purpose is not to create a one - size - fits - all approach to introducing media literacy. rather, i hope to generate a context in which teachers adapt the ideas here for their own classroom activities. since there is little advertising done in advance of the harry potter movie, i suggest interested teachers look in local pharmacies, grocery stores, and bookstores to note the wide array of items carrying the harry potter image that are available for purchase. a recent issue of vanity fair magazine ( http : / / www. epicurious. com ) devoted its main story to the upcoming harry potter phenomenon. these conditions can be explained as parental comments, friends ' comments, newscasters ' comments, or other attitudes displayed by institutions such as church, school, government, sports, and so on. w. james potter defines various media schema as character schema ( stereotypical images that viewers instantly recognize ), narrative schema ( storytelling formulas that cue viewers to the genre ), setting schema ( places that influence viewer expectations ), thematic schema ( character behaviors that interact with the first three schemas to provide viewers with a moral to the story ), and rhetorical schema ( the primary contribution of the story - - whether to inform, entertain, persuade, create a fantasy, and so on ) ( 74 ). bruce, b. c. " literacy technologies : what stance should we take? " journal of literacy research ( 29 ) 1997 : 289 - 309. healy, jane m. endangered minds : why children don ' t think - - and what we can do about it. new york : touchstone, 1990. grossberg, lawrence, ellen wartella, and d. charles whitney. mediamaking : mass media in a popular culture. thousand oaks, ca : sage, 1998. macaul, sherry l., jackie k. giles, and rita k. rodenberg. " intermediality in the classroom : learners constructing meaning through deep viewing. " intermediality : the teacher ' s handbook of critical media literacy. ed. ladislaus semali and ann watts pailliotet. boulder, co


##nberg. " intermediality in the classroom : learners constructing meaning through deep viewing. " intermediality : the teacher ' s handbook of critical media literacy. ed. ladislaus semali and ann watts pailliotet. boulder, co : westview, 1999. meyrowitz, joshua. no sense of place : the impact of electronic media on social behavior. new york : oxford up, 1985. potter, w. james. media literacy. 2nd ed. thousand oaks, ca : sage, 2001. semali, ladislaus m, and ann watts pailliotet. intermediality : the teacher ' s handbook of critical media literacy. boulder, co : westview, 1999. simons, herbert, joanne morreale, and bruce gronbeck. persuasion in society. thousand oaks, ca : sage, 2001. u. s. department of education. naep 1996 : trends in writing. office of educational research and improvement. national center for educational statistics. washington, dc : 1999. —. naep 1998 : trends in writing. washington, dc : 2000. citation format : penrod, dane. " the trouble with harry : a reason for teaching media literacy to young adults. " the writing instructor. 2001. http : / / www. writinginstructor. com / penrod. html ( date accessed ). review process : diane penrod ' s essay was accepted for publication following blind, peer review.


webmd medical news louise chang, md jan. 15, 2009 - - the largest study ever to track bipolar disorder and schizophrenia within families offers evidence that the two psychiatric disorders share a common genetic cause. for more than a century the psychiatric community has debated whether schizophrenia and bipolar disorder were two distinct disorders or were more over the course of their illnesses, many patients experience similarities in certain symptoms characteristic of both, such as manic mood swings in bipolar disorder and psychosis in schizophrenia. recent genetic studies suggest a common genetic cause for the two conditions. but earlier studies in families have not supported this conclusion, finding no increase in bipolar disorder in family members of schizophrenics and in an effort to help settle the question, researchers in sweden linked a comprehensive national health registry to equally comprehensive hospital three decades of registry and hospital data ( 1973 to 2004 ) involving 9 million swedes from 2 million families were analyzed to determine risk for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder among biological and nonbiological relatives of patients with one or both of the disorders. close to 36, 000 people with schizophrenia and 40, 500 people with a diagnosis of bipolar disorder were identified. the analysis revealed that : shared and non - shared environmental factors also contributed to risk, but they were less important influences than genetics. the findings appear in the jan. 17 issue of the journal the " it is time that we rethink the way we view these disorders, " study co - author christina hultman, phd, tells webmd. " and it is clear that we need more genetic studies to help us better understand this shared in an editorial accompanying the study, cardiff university dean of medicine michael owen, md, phd, suggested that the earlier family studies were far too small to show the genetic link between schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. in an interview with webmd, owen called the latest research very strong, with major implications for how patients are managed. " when someone receives a diagnosis of schizophrenia it is easy for clinicians to overlook mood disorder and other symptoms that don ' t fit with that diagnosis, " he says. " the same is true for psychotic symptoms that may occur in people labeled with a diagnosis of bipolar disorder. " he adds that it is important for clinicians to recognize that symptoms can, and often do, change over time. " most patients don ' t fit neatly into categories, and the more questions you ask the more likely you are to find a combination of psychotic and mood symptoms, " he says. john h. krystal, md, of yale university medical center and the


the term sexually transmitted disease is used to cover the more than 25 - 30 infectious organisms that are spread through sexual activity. sexually transmitted infections ( stis ) are almost always spread from person to person by sexual activity. these infections are most easily spread by vaginal or anal intercourse, and sometimes by oral sex. some stis can also be spread through blood, particularly among intravenous ( iv ) drug users who may be sharing drug equipment ( needles, syringes, or “ works ” ). in addition, pregnant women with stis may pass their infection to infants in the uterus ( womb ), during birth, or through breast - feeding. most people with stis have no symptoms. without treatment these diseases can lead to major health problems such as not being able to get pregnant ( infertility ), permanent brain damage, heart disease, cancer, and even death. if you think you have been exposed to a sexually transmitted disease, you and your sex partner ( s ) should visit a health clinic, hospital or doctor for testing and treatment. most stis affect both men and women, but in many cases the health problems they cause can be more severe for women. if a pregnant woman has an sti, it can cause serious health problems for the baby. if you have an sti caused by bacteria or parasites, your health care provider can treat it with antibiotics or other medicines. if you have an sti caused by a virus, there is no cure. sometimes medicines can keep the disease under control. correct usage of latex condoms greatly reduces, but does not completely eliminate, the risk of catching or spreading stis. sexually transmitted infections : sexually transmitted disease information prescott : ( 928 ) 583 - 1000


origin : modl : so named ( 1789 ) by m. h. klaproth ( see tellurium ), its discoverer, after uranus, recently ( 1781 ) discovered planet + - ium see uranium in american heritage dictionary 4 noun symbol u origin : new latin uranium origin :, after uranus, uranus ; see uranus. word history : some chemical elements, such as ytterbium and berkelium, derive their names from the places they were discovered, but the element uranium owes its name to an earlier scientific discovery, that of the planet uranus. sir william herschel, who discovered uranus in 1781, wanted to name the planet georgium sidus, “ the georgian planet, ” in honor of george iii ; others called it herschel. eventually convention prevailed and the planet came to be called uranus, like mercury and pluto the name of a heavenly deity in classical mythology. this god, called ouranos in greek ( latinized as uranus ), was chosen because he was the father of saturn ( greek kronos ), the deity of the planet next in line, who himself was the father of jupiter ( greek zeus ), the deity of the next planet. the name of this new planet uranus was then used in the name of a new chemical element discovered eight years later by m. h. klaproth. klaproth, a german scientist, gave it the latin name uranium in honor of the discovery of uranus. uranium passed into english shortly thereafter, being first recorded in the third edition of the encyclopedia britannica, published in 1797. learn more about uranium


cdc finds dramatic rise in drug deathsfeb 9, 2007 | ap the number of accidental drug overdose deaths rose from 11, 155 in 1999 to 19, 838 in 2004, according to the centers for disease control and prevention. the report was based on death certificates, which do not clearly detail which drugs played the greatest role. but cdc researchers said they believe sedatives and prescription painkillers like vicodin and oxycontin were the chief cause of the increase. oxycontin has been blamed for hundreds of deaths across the country in recent years, becoming such a scourge in appalachia that it is known as " hillbilly heroin. " deaths from falls climbed between 1999 and 2004 at a more modest rate, from 13, 162 to 18, 807, the cdc said. motor vehicle crashes accounted for 40, 965 fatalities in 1999 and 43, 432 in 2004. the south had one of the lowest fatal drug overdose rates in the nation in 1999, but it doubled by 2004. the south now ties the west for having the highest rate about 8 per 100, 000 population. " this is the first study really to describe the large relative increases in poisoning mortality rates in rural states. historically, the drug issue has been seen as an urban problem, " said dr. len paulozzi, a cdc epidemiologist. the federal report, issued this week, noted that accidental drug overdoses remain most common in men and in people 35 to 54. but the most dramatic increases in death rates were for white females, young adults and southerners - the death rates for men remained roughly twice the rate for women, but the female rate doubled from 1999 to 2004 while the male rate increased by 47 percent. - the rate for white women rose more dramatically than for any other gender group, to 5 deaths per 100, 000 population. - the rate of overdose deaths among teens and young adults, ages 15 to 24, is less than half that of the 35 - to - 54 group. but it rose much more dramatically, climbing 113 percent in the study years, to 5. 3 deaths per 100, 000 population. earlier research suggests that deaths from illegal drugs appear to be holding steady. " there is a misperception that because a drug is a prescription medicine, it ' s safe to use for non - medical reasons. and clearly that is not true, " said dr. anne marie mckenzie - brown, a pain medicine expert at atlanta ' s emory crawford long hospital.


criticism of pow treatment criticism of pow treatment news release issued by the international secretariat of amnesty international amnesty international urged the united states to ensure respect for the human rights of all people who have been or may be transferred from afghanistan to a us military base in guantanamo bay, cuba. " the us is placing these people in a legal limbo. they deny that they are prisoners of war ( pows ), while at the same time failing to provide them with the most basic protections of any person deprived of their liberty, " amnesty international said. " the us has obligations under international law to ensure respect for the human rights of all persons in their custody - - including the duty to treat them humanely and ensure that they have recourse to fair proceedings, regardless of the nature of the crimes they are suspected of having committed. " amnesty international considers that those who are held in guantanamo, who are said to have been captured during the war in afghanistan, are presumed to be pows. if there is any dispute about their status, the us must allow a " competent tribunal " to decide, as required by article 5 of the third geneva convention. this is also the position held by the international committee of the red cross ( icrc ), the most authoratitive interpreter of the geneva conventions. " it is not the prerogative of the secretary of defense or any other us administration official to determine whether those held in guantanamo are pows ", amnesty international said. " an independent us court, following due process, is the appropriate organ to make this determination. " pows are afforded specific rights. for example, they should be held in conditions " as favourable " as those of us soldiers ; they are not required to divulge information beyond their name, rank, serial number and date - of - birth ; they cannot be tried merely for having taken up arms against enemy combatants in the context of the conflict and they should be granted access to delegates of the icrc. pows, unless they are to be tried for war crimes or other criminal offences, must be repatriated at the end of " active hostilities ". any detainee who is suspected of a crime, whether or not they are pows, must be charged with a criminal offense and tried fairly or released. denying pows or other people protected by the geneva conventions a fair trial is a war crime. amnesty international is opposed to the death penalty in all circumstances. the international safeguards governing the treatment of all detainees facing criminal charges include those of the international covenant on civil and political


quakes : call on turks and on greeks the " art " of photography was invented in 1826. the use of steel - reinforced concrete started around 1876. so, for 135 years, from 1876 to this day ( 2011 ), it has been possible to have photos of steel - reinforced concrete buildings destroyed by quakes. newspaper archives, worldwide, are full of innumerable photos of multistory steel - reinforced concrete buildings in which their occupants were crashed to death, in the most agonizing way, when the buildings collapsed, during an earthquake. if observers from another planet could view the material and social changes that appeared on the face of the earth during the last one hundred years, they would conclude that one of the most important factors for the existing material and social reality on the planet has been the use of steel - reinforced concrete. the ease and speed with which humans can make a concrete building frame has enabled them to construct multi - story buildings in infinite numbers. from the moment of the arrival of this type of building, life changed for the mass of twentieth century men and women. this kind of building allowed the state to cram a great part of the population into miserable apartments in multi - story concrete buildings. the social, political, psychopathological, and even anthropological aspects of the problem of cramming millions in these " buildings - machines " has yet to be seriously addressed. this social problem of the multi - story apartment building is magnified to a fatal degree at those parts of the earth which are earthquake - prone. concrete is an intrinsically brittle material, even when reinforced with steel. ( chalk is another brittle material ). a multistory concrete building cannot survive a big earthquake, if hit directly by the earthquake. the damage from a quake to a building is site specific. a building can remain intact, while another one, even a few feet away, can be destroyed completely. naturally, it is reasonable to ask : who is responsible for the proliferation of the concrete multi - story apartment building? as already mentioned, it is the state. not only because it crams the masses, like sardines, in these " buildings - machines ", but because, with the help of its technical " commissars ", the engineers, it permits and promotes the construction of these " death - traps ", in earthquake - prone areas. so, we reach to the, rather, strange conclusion that the thousands of deaths caused by quakes is a political problem! among the people that helped the state to propagate or


these " death - traps ", in earthquake - prone areas. so, we reach to the, rather, strange conclusion that the thousands of deaths caused by quakes is a political problem! among the people that helped the state to propagate or use this multi - story - building " solution " to the problem of housing ordinary people, a prominent place is held by le corbusier ( 1887 - 1965 ). le corbusier was born in switzerland and at the age of 43 he became a french citizen. he was quite " enamored " to the nazis, and he was an admirer of henry ford and the... general motors! his contribution to humanity : part of the misery that the extraterrestrial man observed during his trip on the surface of the earth. unfortunately, this contribution to misery and quake - induced deaths has not been adequately recognized, if at all, by historians, engineers, and intellectuals. how could, a rather not very competent architect, create such " havoc ", almost single - handed? my estimate : the cause is a strange tendency of humans, especially of ladies, to feel that it is de rigueur to be modern, to follow the fashion, etc. [ whether this tendency is innate or acquired, does not matter. what matters, is that it is so prevalent ]. le corbusier and his creations were the epitome of... modernity. maybe, that was why le corbusier became a french citizen ; to be at the center of modernity, fashion, etc. aside from this rather droll, yet valid, explanation, there is a more sinister one : the greed of the portland cement industry and the automobile industry in the " democratic " nations and authoritarianism in the non - democratic nations ( the soviets, hitler, etc ). let us take the case of greece : around 79 years ago, between 1932 and 1933, what happened at the " exarchia square " in athens helped decide the fate of the city concerning its buildings and consequently helped decide the way of the life of its inhabitants. in 1932 the construction of one of the first steel - reinforced concrete multi - story buildings, designed by a young greek architect, started to take place at the north - eastern corner of the " exarchia square ". [ parenthesis : " the athens neighborhood of ' exarchia ' is considered the scene of the anarchic scene in greece ( today ). the core of the neighborhood is a tiny triangular park (


of the " exarchia square ". [ parenthesis : " the athens neighborhood of ' exarchia ' is considered the scene of the anarchic scene in greece ( today ). the core of the neighborhood is a tiny triangular park ( the ' exarchia square ' ) with its longest side measuring around 150 feet. the police raid exarchia regularly. " ( this from my znet commentary, of january 30, 2009 ). in 1932, the exarchia area was an upper middle - class place with only one - story or at most two - storey houses, as was all of athens. therefore, the multi - story building at the square was quite a sensation. end of the parenthesis. ] before the new multi - story building at exarchia was completed le corbusier visited the place and after congratulating the greek architect, he scrawled the words " c ' est tres beau " ( it is very beautiful ) on a wall at the entrance of the unfinished building. the words stayed there on the wall for decades, to commemorate the approval of the " great " man. le corbusier was 45 years old at the time and already a french citizen. then to crown this " artistic " masterpiece the architect invited a friend of his, a painter, to choose the color of the outer surface of the building. the painter chose a very dark blue color, which turned the edifice into a legendary " monument " for modern athens : the " blue apartment building ", as it is called to this day. unfortunately, the dark color turned the building into an " oven " during the scorching athenian summers, so it was painted with a lighter blue color, in later years. the greek " blue apartment building " was not a blessed event for the greeks only, similar happy events took place all over the planet. hitler, stalin, et al, were in line waiting to cram their lucky citizens into the " machines ". so, the " blue apartment building " has been replicated in athens and the rest of greece, ad nauseam, to this day, resulting in a monstrous and, more importantly, a dangerous city, quakewise. unfortunately for the greek people, it so happened that the " gift " of le corbusier to the state, the multi - story concrete buildings ( the " buildings - machines " ) was also a " gift " to the us empire as an instrument of domination. during the last half of the 1940s in greece, the us "


of quakes in alaska ( out of the 239 ) : 53 - number of quakes in the states of america ( other than alaska ) : 50 - number of quakes in the world ( excluding the us and alaska ) : 136 - number of different countries that were hit by a quake : 31 looking at the above recorded data, one could conclude, for example, that alaska is an intensely quake - prone area. also, we " know " that according to science, quakes are crowded at the places where the continental plates meet one another, that quakes do not happen in the middle of the plates ( continents ), etc, and that when the latter happens, as in new madrid, then we discover " ancient " faults and so on. if quakes are a very serious matter, that is if an agonizing death is a serious matter, then we are obliged to see the quake - prone factor in a more conservative way. for example, what if there are unknown " ancient faults " under berlin, or dresden, or moscow, etc? also, should we not take into account that the historical data that we have for quakes are minuscule? therefore, should we accept the axiom that any place on earth is quake - prone? the answer should be : yes! furthermore, that there are more than 200 quakes per week all over the earth in more than 30 countries cannot be ignored. also, the fact that the majority of those quakes have a magnitude between 4 and 5 richter, is deadly significant. such quakes affect the structural integrity of buildings, even mildly, and the harm is cumulative. all materials have " memory ", in relation to their strength. so, having a planet " vibrating " with quakes and covered with concrete death - traps, what do we do? a call for a solution what follows is addressed mainly to the turkish people, the greek people, and the engineers and the technical universities of both countries : after the collapse of a concrete building the " lucky " ones are those who die on the spot. an unknown number of trapped survivors, under hundreds of tons of concrete, are killed in a terrible manner by their... rescuers. at some point, a few days after the quake, the state ( the politicians ) orders the removal of the concrete mass with the use of heavy construction equipment, thus dismembering any survivors who are still alive. a couple of decades ago in salonika, an engineering colleague of mine pleaded with the politicians not to use the construction equipment


removal of the concrete mass with the use of heavy construction equipment, thus dismembering any survivors who are still alive. a couple of decades ago in salonika, an engineering colleague of mine pleaded with the politicians not to use the construction equipment, as there might still be survivors under the mass of the concrete. they refused, and used the equipment only 48 hours after the quake. all my friend could do was to burst to tears. the same thing is happening this very minute ( nov. 11, 2011 ) in turkey. is there a solution? did the technical universities of the world try seriously to find a solution, for more than a century? during this period of time, what the universities did was to try to find out how to " strengthen " the concrete buildings by devising scale models of buildings and experimenting on them. the japanese, once, tried to be " realistic ", by avoiding the scale models, and fixed a... rocket on the top of a multi - story building! all the benefit these " toys " offered to humanity, was more and more dead in collapsed concrete buildings. if the extremely heavy and weak concrete of a tall building kills, what then could be the solution? evidently, a low building made of light materials. such a building should meet three criteria : 1. it should be a low one - story structure. 2. it should be of light, but sturdy material. 3. it should be inexpensive there has never been a serious effort by the technical universities of the world to design such a building for the benefit of ordinary people, to protect them from death when a quake hits. the argument that is usually raised against this proposal is that if you eliminate the tall buildings then you are apt to cover the surface of the earth with one - story houses for the billions of its inhabitants ; an ecological catastrophe. let us be honest. where did all these humans use to live before they inundated the few big cities in all countries, from greece to china? was the surface of the earth covered to capacity with their home villages? the " brutal " motive for people to move to the cities was and is poverty. actually, it is a " benign " phoenix program initiated by the world economic elite ; a sequel to the original greek and vietnamese murderous programs. also, there is another, rather " vulgar " development that refutes the above argument. for example, there are greek immigrants, admittedly not very numerous, who after having been " successful " by climbing the social ladder from dishwashers in


also, there is another, rather " vulgar " development that refutes the above argument. for example, there are greek immigrants, admittedly not very numerous, who after having been " successful " by climbing the social ladder from dishwashers in new york or frankfurt to restaurateurs, they then build summer - houses back in their home villages, usually mimicking, architecturally, swiss chalets, thus occupying two times their... allotted domicile space on the face of the earth. an additional objection to the proliferation of the one - story home, possibly by ecologists this time, might be that this is a boon for the proliferation of the automobile, le corbusier ' s fervent vision. wrong! this problem had been solved around the turn of the 20th century. the solution : the steel wheel on a steel rail. that is : mass transportation by trains, light - rail and the streetcar. a solution, which was " erased " by the general motors et al in the 1930s and 1940s. finally, for some people, storing humans vertically towards heaven in tall buildings in mega - cities, is a way to make humanity " more productive and efficient ". in the " special issue " on " better cities " of the " scientific american " magazine, for september 2011, ( page 38 ), luis m. a. bettencourt and geoffrey b. west write : " what we can say with certainty,..., is that increased population [ in cities ] promotes more intense and frequent social interactions... as well as economic pressures that weed out inefficiencies. in a city with high rents, only activities that add substantial value can be profitable. these economic pressures push urbanites to come up with new forms of organizations, products and services that carry more value added. in turn, higher profitability, excellence and choice tend to attract more talent to the city, pushing rents higher still, fuelling the need to find yet more productive activities... " about " weed out inefficiencies ", " rents ", " economic pressures ", " value added ", and " profitability ", no comment is necessary. however, given that the majority of " educated " people in the west, and probably the writers of the above excerpt, consider the foundation of their culture and of their social thought to be the product of the city of athens around 2, 500 years ago ( see martin bernal ' s " black athena " ), it is a bit of


writers of the above excerpt, consider the foundation of their culture and of their social thought to be the product of the city of athens around 2, 500 years ago ( see martin bernal ' s " black athena " ), it is a bit of a contradiction to ignore the fact that the area covered by the city of athens, at that time, around the acropolis, is the same area covered today by a few dozen taverns, peddling " moussaka " to the tourists. how come such " wisdom " came out of a postage - stamp city, not a mega - city? furthermore, to invent the wheel or the transistor is the easy part. to understand the human nature is the hard one. also, it is even harder to survive in a concrete multi - story building that was hit by an earthquake. a possible outline of action by the ordinary people of turkey and greece to solve the deadly problem of the quake could be as follows : - both peoples should ignore their respective governing elites. any action by both peoples should be at the grassroots level, in a pareconish way. - dialogue and cooperation between the two peoples should be the cardinal basis for finding a solution. - immediate and very close contact among the civil engineers and the civil engineering schools of both countries. - honest evaluation of the history of concrete in relation to quakes. - if the ordinary men and women of turkey and greece, with the help of the universities and of the engineers of both countries, decide that the solution rests on the design of a one - story house of lightweight materials, then a long - range program should be made for the initiation of a process of replacing the existing tall structures with the new low lightweight ones, recycling almost all of the materials of the existing buildings. obviously, this will take many decades, maybe about a half century. as already mentioned, this is only an outline by a single individual. there are more than 80 million turks and greeks capable to start thinking about the problem. one additional benefit of such a program could be that it will evolve into a political and social contact between the two peoples that will allow them to live in peace and dignity. also, it is possible that in the future this program could involve and the peoples at the rim of the mediterranean basin ; syria, lebanon, palestine, egypt, libya, algeria, tunisia, morocco, etc. the turks and the greeks can, of course, appeal to the rest of the world for cooperation and involvement in such a project. however, the massachusetts institute of


syria, lebanon, palestine, egypt, libya, algeria, tunisia, morocco, etc. the turks and the greeks can, of course, appeal to the rest of the world for cooperation and involvement in such a project. however, the massachusetts institute of technology and the university of illinois should definitely be involved in this turko - greek project. especially, the university of illinois, which has the best school of civil engineering in the world. the history of the university of illinois in relation to quakes is quite interesting. part of this history are nathan m. newmark, hardy cross, and fazlur r. khan. all three were among the most brilliant minds of the contemporary science of the world. - newmark ( 1910 - 1981 ) was the head of the civil engineering department of the u of illinois, at urbana, for 17 years. his work had a lot to do with earthquakes. all his life he tackled the most difficult engineering problems, even the design of structures to withstand a nuclear explosion, and gave brilliant solutions. he is famous for the quake - resistant design of the skyscraper " torre latinoamericana " in mexico city. he was awarded the national medal of science and numerous other awards. - cross ( 1885 - 1959 ) was the originator, in 1936 at the u. of illinois, of what is known to all the civil engineers of the world as the " cross method ", a tool that helped them tremendously in the design of structures, especially of multi - story concrete structures. - khan ( 1929 - 1982 ) " was a native of bangladesh... [ he ] is considered as one of the greatest geniuses in the history of civil engineering... khan ' s revolutionary design of a skyscraper is that the most economical way to build a skyscraper is the one in which it is built with thin solid walls as a tube... " [ this from my znet commentary, " of pyramids and skyscrapers ", of september 30, 2001 ]. the wtc twin towers were designed on the basis of khan ' s revolutionary method. all these three great engineers devoted their life to solve technical problems for the erection of multi - story buildings. the opposite of what is proposed here. yet, what could their reaction be to such a proposal for a low light - weight building? i would like to think that, ultimately, they would agree that losing the lives of the hundreds of thousands of ordinary people in multi - story concrete buildings has not been seriously examined by the engineering profession and that something should be done.


- weight building? i would like to think that, ultimately, they would agree that losing the lives of the hundreds of thousands of ordinary people in multi - story concrete buildings has not been seriously examined by the engineering profession and that something should be done. all three were serious and extremely rational individuals. of these three, i had the chance to meet only newmark, a polite, gentle, and honest person. about khan it was written that he was a " technical genius with a sensitivity for people and the places in which they must live and work ". khan himself said : " i like to think myself a citizen of the world. if we don ' t have a sense of compassion on a world basis and on a man - to - man basis, we ' re never going to get out of the wars we ' re in ". about cross i do not know much. yet, i am apt to think that he was not different from the other two. it seems that these three exceptional individuals, in relation to quakes, had fallen to what might be called the " robert oppenheimer trap ". after oppenheimer tried to rationalize his involvement with the nukes, he said that he could not resist the feeling of " a technically sweet solution "! my guess is that, today, all three would agree to the solution presented here. [ parenthesis : here is a rough outline of a possible solution for an one - story light - weight building : 1. construction of a concrete wall as a " base " of the building. concrete?! yes, concrete. even of plain concrete, without steel reinforcement. however, the height of the wall should not exceed 4 feet ( 1. 20 meters ). this low wall will give the building a solid base, as a quasi " ballast ", which can withstand mainly wind forces. this 4 - feet high ballast - wall, even if it fails ( which is improbable ), will not trap people under it, because of its small height. 2. the floor should be a concrete slab ( plain or with minimal steel reinforcement ) that is monolithically connected to the low wall, forming thus a box - like lower part of the building. this will be beneficial to the building even if there is liquefaction. ( transformation of the soil into a liquid, for a fraction of the duration of the quake. ) 3. the remaining 6 feet, to gain the total height of 10 feet of the building, should be a lightweight construction, resembling a cage, made


( transformation of the soil into a liquid, for a fraction of the duration of the quake. ) 3. the remaining 6 feet, to gain the total height of 10 feet of the building, should be a lightweight construction, resembling a cage, made of steel members, thus securing that the upper part of the walls and the roof will not kill people by falling on them. the steel to be used, mostly by recycling, is already used today as reinforcement in the slabs and columns of the traditional concrete structures, which are going to be demolished. 4. the steel cage, of the upper part of the structure, should be covered on the outside and the inside with a thin " skin " of fiber - reinforced concrete of a thickness of only half inch. strange as it sounds, there has been experience with such " thin " fiber - reinforced materials for decades. students in most civil engineering schools in the us take part in an annual competition of building... canoes out of such a " skin ". 5. the low concrete wall of 4 feet and the space between the outer " skin " and the inner " skin " should be thermally insulated ( preferably with local, or recycled, or newly invented material ). this is only an outline of a solution by a single person. there could be hundreds of better ones from thousands of others ; turks, greeks, mit, the u. of illinois, and so on. end of the parenthesis. ] it should be pointed out that no architects should be involved in this project. my experience with greek architects, in relation to quakes is... terrifying. i feel that prof. christopher alexander, already mentioned above, has been saying similar things for years, if not about quakes, at least about the " offerings " of architacts to humanity. here is a deadly exercise in aesthetics by le corbusier. to make buildings more beautiful he introduced the notion of the " pilotis ". that is, he let the building stand on stilts, by eliminating the walls of the ground floor and left only the concrete columns. also, he said the less numerous columns the better. there are two multi - story apartment buildings on le corbusier stilts, not far from my place. during the big quake of 1981 in athens they were hit severely and all the concrete stilts were almost destroyed. the state with the help of its engineering " commissars " allowed the " repair " of the damage. today, more than 40 families ( about 160


of 1981 in athens they were hit severely and all the concrete stilts were almost destroyed. the state with the help of its engineering " commissars " allowed the " repair " of the damage. today, more than 40 families ( about 160 humans ) are living in a terrible death - trap. this commentary is addressed to the turks and to the greeks in general, and specifically to the inhabitants of istanbul, of athens, and of lisbon. finally, to close this rather painful znet commentary : there is no need to include here a list of the dead from quakes through the ages. the list can be found even in the yearly " almanacs ". i feel that i have to justify why, while living in athens with all the social and the political tempest around me, i chose to write once more a " commentary " on quakes. 1. i know that this very minute tens of thousands of turks are suffering extremely, because of the latest quake that hit them. 2. the turks did not have a choice. during the 10 seconds of the duration of the quake the only choice you have is to try to avoid thinking about the way the concrete slabs will crash you to a pulp. the people of athens have a choice : they can revolt. which they do! given this chance to communicate with this commentary, here is a very brief report on the situation in athens : i. lately, there are numerous classified ads in the papers by young greeks, who seek to exchange the family apartments in athens with a small farm or a piece of farm - land in rural areas, so that they can escape from the city and survive economically. ii. months ago the greek government decided to add an extra tax to the property of the greeks. to extract the money from the people, the government decided to send the extra tax bill through the regular electricity bill and in case the family did not pay the extra tax to disconnect the family house from the electric grid. result : the labor union of the electricity workers decided to not disconnect the houses, in solidarity with the populace. the government hired private companies to do the dirty work. the unions threaten to use violence to protect the populace, against the private ( enterprise ) " thugs ". iii. this is 11 a. m., in athens. four hours from now the huge annual march from the polytechnic to the us embassy to commemorate the 1973 uprising of the students against the us instigated military dictatorship will start on 3 p. m. there are 7, 000 policemen on