Geek of the Week: Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, Herpo the Foul

Welcome to "Geek of the Week"; here we honor one Muggle geek and one Wizard geek who embody Ravenclaw spirit...
when they succeed, they soar, and when they fail, they fail spectacularly!

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (1797 - 1851)
"Nothing contributes so much to tranquilizing the mind as a steady purpose - a point on which the soul may fix its intellectual eye."

SHE WROTE FRANKENSTEIN.  What, you want more?  Okay.  IT WAS PUBLISHED WHEN SHE WAS 21 YEARS OLD.  (You can't fake the funk.)

Also, her parents were "intellectual rebels" and celebrated authors (go look, they're pretty awesome) and she married a poet named Percy (Shelley, yes, that one).  Not a happy life, but it wasn't dull.

Read Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus on Project Gutenburg.
Find out more about Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley on Wikipedia.

Herpo the Foul

The earliest known Parselmouth.  The first to hatch a Basilisk.  The inventor of the Horcrux.

On one hand, an innovator.  On the other, he's one bad dude.

Find out more about Herpo the Foul on the Harry Potter Wiki.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Stationery card

Halloween Wishes Halloween Card

Get custom Halloween invitations at Shutterfly.com.

View the entire collection of cards.

Interhouse Activities: Ghosts and Ghouls

October is very nearly over. Can you believe it? I don't know about you, but I have a tendency to create lofty plans at the start of the month, only to heavily revise them by the end of the month. What's that quote?

"Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars!" Les Brown

Yeah, that's totally me. I might not accomplish everything I set out to do, but I'm still getting a lot done. I hope you too are proud of what you've accomplished so far this term. Claws certainly are cranking out the projects! However if you are considering squeezing in one more class, might I suggest you participate in The Tower's Craft-Along? The badge is pretty sweet and there will be prizes. Looking for some inspiration? Check out the projects pictured below that have already submitted for the Craft-Along.

Considering crafting a monster? There's still time to knit an ever popular monster chunk. Maybe looking at jessdhill's monster will inspire you.

You don't knit, you crochet, you say? Well I bet you could whip up a cute bat like KristyRecycles' or grow bones like cakewalkqueen.

Surely there is time to knit some teenie tiny ghosts like nerdmama's.

Find these and more ideas in the Craft-Along discussion thread.

SOAR RAVENCLAW!

October 29th Classwork Totals

Alright, Claws. We are down to the wire. We very successfully completed Quidditch, Game 2, but there is still more crafting time left to the month. If you are trying to decide between working on Advanced Studies or slipping in more classwork, focus on Advanced Studies. Why, you ask? Because we're still sitting pretty when it comes to classwork. Not including Detention, we have submitted 28 more homework assignments than our nearest competitor. But if you've reached your 50% OWL milestone or 75% NEWT milestone and you think you can squeeze in another class, by all means do so. We wouldn't want one of the other houses to suddenly catch up to us in the last couple days of October. ;)

Common Room Recap October 26-28

This Weekend in Ravenclaw

• Look at the cool things secrettrail and family did!
• Crabgrass rockin out :)
• The Quiddy news is excellent!
• She passed, she passed! Congrats HoH!
• Baby martian costume...adorable!
• Important announcement re: the impending storm and class turn-ins.

 

Quidditch Game 2: Completed!

The whistle has blown on Game 2 and WE WON!!!     Details below.  :)

Endurance training was all about multiples, churning out five to ten of the same type of project.  The pitch was full of so much variety: coasters, dishcloths, teeny tiny hearts and stars and flowers, coffee cozies, Christmas ornaments, snowflakes, butterflies, mini owls, leaves, doll clothes -- Ravenclaws truly decided to Craft. All. The. Things. while working smarter, not harder!

Dying yarn was a popular option for multi Quidditch goodness:

Row 1: Andryl, CathyCake, Cre8vladyb, Drake
Row 2: Flipstainforever, Hazelly, Jayannell, Katzenwolle
Row 3: Krypton, m8land, Nebeltanzerin, oriocookie
Row 4: SarahTheEntwife, Stormmoon, tkannon, TriGirlJ

Lots of people had the food challenge remaining on the brain.  Stacymarie, Hypercycloid, tiedyedmomma, and electronjam crafted some cute food miniatures...

...while SFcorgi brought back grape cozies like cah-razy!
(FYI: her Lunatic Quotient is now 2,589.  Respect.)

Teeny tiny aminals! by Nymfadora and senkatnovo:

 

Teeny tiny people! by JeninRI...

...accoutrements for said teeny people! by GazeboGal and RavenclawPrefect...

 

...plus a bonus teeny tiny conveyance by nerdmama!  Dirigibeautiful!

Tiny teeny Halloweeny crafting! by bookwormdjibouti and jessdhill (also nerdmama - go look!):

 

AND THE WINNER for the most Ravenclaw entry goes to:
DEETYBLUE, with her punctuation pandemonium!

p.s. we won the game AND had over 60% Claw participation.  :)

SOAR RAVENCLAW!!


NEXT UP: Challenge 3
Hat Time Trial: November 3 - 9
Each house can field a team of up to twenty people.  Our awesome Quidditch Staff are making final team decisions right now -- watch the Tower Quidditch thread for the big announcement!

Team members must craft as many hats-to-fit-human-heads as possible in the time allotted; for every hat donated to charity, the House Cup coaches will give bonus points.
Details and scoring specifics are in the House Cup Quidditch Thread.

Common Room Recap October 22-25

This Week in Ravenclaw

• Wherein SMONK ignites a rigourous discussion of the proper grammar for slang in regional dialects.
• Further happy update on Wrist surgery from TriGirlJ.
• Adorable time suck.
• Hilarious dog related "science".
• AbbyEBee has wonderful news!
• Cre8vladyb has had some challenges this week but keeps a positive spin.

 

Classwork Showcase

This week's showcase is a day late, but definitely not short on lovely projects done by our fellow Ravenclaws!

FLYING
lea67000  enchanted this lovely pair of socks as a Portkey to Ireland.

CHARMS:
FangAili made a hat to disguise herself among the "Star Wars"-loving Muggles.

POTIONS:GoJenn took a stab at knitting to create this adorable doggie sweater for her granddog.

HERBOLOGY:Meilindis got in touch with her cozy core when she knit more neckwear. Check out all the ways she can wear it!

 
HISTORY OF MAGIC:
Pluckylass encountered an adorable fairy princess, festooned in finery!

MUGGLE STUDIES:

Rat terrier Kari is super styling in this Muggle "dog sweater" contraption, custom-crafted by rondaletts

DADA:

Loveswildflowers created this really awesome monster just in time for All Hallow's Eve!

ANCIENT RUNES:
Rromera crafted this lovely item to represent her interpretation of the Demiguise!

I want to say "well done" to all of the Ravenclaws that have been crafting their hearts out this month!

SOAR RAVENCLAW!

Geek of the Week: Nikola Tesla, Bowman Wright

Welcome to "Geek of the Week"; here we honor one Muggle geek and one Wizard geek who embody Ravenclaw spirit...
when they succeed, they soar, and when they fail, they fail spectacularly!

Nikola Tesla (1856 - 1943)
“I do not think there is any thrill that can go through the human heart like that felt by the inventor as he sees some creation of the brain unfolding to success... Such emotions make a man forget food, sleep, friends, love, everything.”

There are so many choice Tesla nuggets, including "I loved that pigeon as a man loves a woman" (no, really, he said that), but none can accurately portray the complexity of this long-overlooked scientist and professional eccentric.

Tesla was an engineer and inventor who rivaled the likes of Thomas Edison in his production, transmission, and application of electric power.  Do you like using your computer, the television (which -ahem- uses a Tesla-invented coil), or lights in your home?  That's alternating current.  That's Tesla.  It's an oversimplication, of course, but the guy obtained over 300 patents worldwide, so forgive me some specifics.

Also?  So dapper!  Just thought I'd mention the obvious.

Find out more about Nikola Tesla on Wikipedia.


Bowman Wright (1462 - 1560)

Golden Snidgets are round birds covered in golden feathers; you probably won't see one in the wild now, as they are endangered, and there are serious penalties for capturing or injuring one of these elusive creatures.  The population was depleted in the span of a century, once their usage in Quidditch matches made Golden Snidgets a hot commodity.

So who saved them from extinction?  Bowman Wright, a metal charmer from the village of Godric's Hollow, was able to combine his interests in science and sport to invent the Golden Snitch we use today.  The Snitch is a marvelous piece of designwork; its rotational wings and light weight allow the device to behave just as a bird would in flight.

Find out more about Bowman Wright on the Harry Potter Wiki.

Mid-October Classwork Totals

Hello, everyone! I hope this finds you well. I'm back again with some pie graphs to let you know where we stand so far this month. Not a whole lot of homework has been submitted by students in the house cup as a whole as compared to last month. My guess is most people are busy getting their OWLs to 50% or are crafting away on their Quidditch Game 2 projects. At least I know that's what I've been prioritizing this month. It's hard to pass up an opportunity to earn up to 150 points in Quidditch. Even with everything going on, Ravenclaw is doing really well when it comes to classwork. Take a look for yourself:

SOAR RAVENCLAW!

Common Room Recap October 19-21

This Weekend in Ravenclaw

• Secrettrail had some train adventures.
• Our HeadGirl had wrist surgery.
• And an update from our HoH.
• Look what the Snuggles' did.
• Important Quidditch information is here, with sign-ups and everything. Soar Ravenclaw!

 

Quiddy Game 2: Ten Times the Fun!

Time is ticking by for Quidditch Game 2 and our stamina is being tested.  We have until late night October 26 to post some multiples (several projects of-a-kind, min 5, max 10, 15 POINTS EACH!) to the House Cup Quidditch thread...  so let's SOAR into the home stretch:

• dying miniskeins !!!
• Halloween-y projects to participate in the October Tower Craft-Along AND get über points!
• winter holiday decor (ornaments, garland, bunting, etc.) or decoration doodahs for present-giving
• autumn leaves -- ooh ahh
• bookmarks
• coasters
• minisocks

And, of course, remember the famous grrrrraaaaape cooooozzzziiiiies!

Check out the Tower Quidditch thread for more project ideas and remember to tag your turn-in post with ClawQ13Endure...

OH: and if you're worried about missing the deadline, the quidditch team has you covered -- how very thoughtful and clever!

Common Room Recap October 15-18

This Week in Ravenclaw

• Dona makes some excellent points about animal rescue.
• Chicago Ravenclaw meet-up picture.
• Interesting thing about baby naming in India.
• General Etsy question for anyone.
• Polite words fail...but at least the Cycloids are getting outta there!

 

Classwork Showcase: Mid October

Hello, again! It's that time again to take a sneak peak at some of the class submissions to see what people have been finishing this week.

Ancient Runes
Peacock created this lovely pair of mitts based on her interpretation of the runic for the number one. . Those cables do look like unicorn horns!

Charms
CathyCake dyed this gorgeous yarn to blend in with her Tower surroundings: the sky!

Defense Against the Dark Arts
Have you seen the "gingerbread man"?? Secrettrail created this awesome, non-edible, gingerbread man!  

Flying
Wickedstash made herself a pretty purple flying carpet.

Herbology
KountingSheep created this doily as a representation of her go-to project. 

History of Magic
The dark beauty of this sparkling black mask will keep cakewalkqueen incognito when visiting the Dark Courts.

Muggle Studies
Any pet would be lucky to wear butchcraft's doggie sweater -- just like Neville's in the Battle of Hogwarts!

 PotionsJenInRI used her wand to make cables for the first time to craft these lovely fingerless gloves. After the sweat and tears she put into them, she decided to keep them instead of giving them as a gift. I don't blame her one bit.

 

Geek of the Week: Ada Lovelace

Welcome to "Geek of the Week"; here we honor one Muggle geek and one Wizard geek who embody Ravenclaw spirit...
when they succeed, they soar, and when they fail, they fail spectacularly!

Ada Lovelace (1815 - 1852)
"I never am really satisfied that I understand anything; because, understand it well as I may, my comprehension can only be an infinitesimal fraction of all I want to understand about the many connections and relations which occur to me, how the matter in question was first thought of or arrived at, etc., etc."

Did you observe Ada Lovelace Day yesterday?  If not, you missed out on a whole day in celebration of women in science, technology, engineering, and math (apparently we only get one day -- so see you next year!  /sarcasm).

Though she did not attend Hogwarts, Augusta Ada Byron King, Countess of Lovelace, was generally known as the cleverest witch of her age.  She was the only child of Anne Isabella Milbanke and Lord Byron (yes, that one), but she never had a close relationship with either of her parents.  Her early education in mathematics stems from her mother's fear that she would inherit her father's insanity; luckily, this knowledge means she is remembered in her own right.

Her most famous work was with Charles Babbage, the famous mathematician and engineer.  Babbage is credited with inventing the first mechanical computer, but it was Lovelace's theoretical notes on his newest proposed machine, the Analytical Engine, that served to advance the purpose of these machines.

Also, she did all this cool stuff before the age of 36.
Also also, she has a namesake programming language.

Ada Lovelace: world's first computer programmer.  AWESOME!

Find out more about the Finding Ada project here.
Find out more about Ada Lovelace on Wikipedia.