Common Room Recap January 7-10

This Week in Ravenclaw

• Oh my yes, this.
• Farm Show evidence.
• Wherein the Common Room supplies the Headgirl with a list of 13 albums she can't live without, sans any clues regarding her taste in music.
• Wow this was very interesting info!
• Much less disturbing info :)
• Crabgrass Frances Corgi sings!
• There is an Apparition Challenge.
• Superglue and wound glue are actually quite close!

Geek of the Week: Brian Greene

Here we honor Muggle geeks who embody Ravenclaw spirit...
when they succeed, they soar, and when they fail, they fail spectacularly!

Brian Greene (b. 1963)
"No matter how hard you try to teach your cat general relativity, you're going to fail."

**brought to you by a request from HapticTraveler**

Happy 50th birthday, Brain Brian!  Let's talk about physics!  In a straightforward manner!

String theorist Brian here is well-educated (Harvard undergrad, Oxford PhD), well-spoken (four books! Oh, and a Peabody award), and well-respected (go watch his TED talks; g'head, I'll wait).  The Big Bang Theory mildly poked fun at his way of making complex theories accessible to non-scientists, but he got a cameo and a book plug, so the joke's on them.  Numerous television programs have hired him as a consultant and science lingo coach; they know a good thing when they see it.

Brian is an accomplished pianist; he co-founded the World Science Festival with journalist Tracy Day, an Emmy award-winning television producer who had the good sense to marry him.

Find out more about Brian Greene on Wikipedia.

Quidditch Challenge 1 Midpoint

Hello everyone! Can you believe we're already a week into the new term? Crazy. What's even crazier is that the first Quidditch event is already half way over. Last term was about crafting as many items as possible. This term is about percentage of house participation. What makes me say that? Check out the recent post stuartsMom made regarding Quidditch points:

Here’s the breakdown of how you, too, can become a Quidditch points superstar!
Each event ….15 points
Flying tie-in….3 bonus points. Players must post a link to their Flying option 3 project in this thread before the end of January, and the flying tie-in tag must be on the turn-in post.
Charity tie-in…5 bonus points per event. Player must state clearly that the item will be for charity at time of turn-in in order to get the bonus, and include the charity tag on their turn-in post
Game 3 Teamwork bonus….15 points if all 4 of your players finish their projects and hand in by deadline.
So, total achievable points, not including any Coaches’ Choice points or achieving a Super Secret Bonus Point Garnering Method? 138 this term!

 So as you can see, there is a limited number of points each student can earn. Therefore if we're going to win the Quidditch Cup, we need as many students participating as possible. Since there are charity bonuses and a tie-in with Flying bonus, it's important that we also remember all of our tags. All of the details for Challenge 1, including tags and a handy portal to a list of mascot ideas, can be found in this post in The Tower Quidditch thread.

Let's check out a couple submissions for inspiration, shall we? CathyCake knit a hat for the Hogsmead Heavenly Bodies and NoNeinNyet knit a hat for the Hogsmead Honeybees. It seems that hats are still on everyone's minds after last term's timed hat trial. :)

You too can craft a hat or a critter or anything else that represents your mascot but be sure to submit it by midnight POT on January 12th. Remember, we need as much participation as possible if we're going to do this.


SOAR RAVENCLAW!