Be sure to visit the Teacher Center at NobleEdNews for more great resources to help your teaching.
Robert Krampf runs a great Science
Experiment Site which has experiments
that can be done with elementary, Junior and High School Students
although
some experiments are obviously too simple for older students. He also
has a
web site which includes some really cool videos of Science Experiments.
He
is also available to for school presentation.
http://www.krampf.com/
The Following is From the Krampf Science Experiments Corner--
This week's experiment is one that you have to try to believe. I know
that
Some of you feel that you get enough science just by reading these, but
this
One you must try. You will need:
A hand held mirror
2 blank walls or two large sheets of white poster board
A friend
2 chairs
You need a place where you can stand facing one section of blank, white
wall
And have another section of blank, white wall to your right. Place one
chair
With its back against the wall in front of you. Have your friend sit in
that
Chair. Place the other chair in front of your friend, being sure that
you
Have a section of blank wall on your right. Have a seat in the chair.
Once you and your friend are facing each other, hold the mirror in your
left
Hand. Bring it up to your face against the right side of your nose. Turn
The mirror at an angle so that when you look straight ahead, your right
eye
Sees only the white wall beside you. Your left eye should still be able
to
See your friend.
Now for the fun part. Both of you should sit very still to make this
work
Well. Hold your right hand up so that you can see its reflection in the
Mirror with your right eye. Looking straight ahead with both eyes, you
Should be able to see your friend and your hand. Now move your right
hand as
If you were using a chalk eraser to wipe your friend's face away. As
your
Hand moves over their face, it should vanish!
What is going on? Has your friend really vanished? No, of course not. We
Have just played a trick on your brain. Because your eyes are separated
a
Bit, they each see things from slightly different angles. Your brain has
the
Job of taking these two images and combining them into one. Usually, the
two
Images are very similar, but here, they are very different. You start
with
One image of your friend and one image off a white wall. The choice for
your
Brain is easy. Your friend is much more interesting than a blank wall.
(If
Your brain thinks that the wall is more interesting, be kind and don't
tell
Your friend.)
At this point, your brain is focusing on the image of your friend and
Ignoring the white wall. Suddenly, you start to move your right hand.
Our
Brains are very sensitive to movement, so it quickly focuses on the
moving
Hand. Here is the fun part. Since your brain is used to combining the
Images from both eyes into one, it keeps the interesting part of each.
Where
There has not been any movement, your brain keeps seeing your friend. In
the
Places where your hand has moved, it switches and uses the image of your
Hand, and the wall where your hand has moved. This gives the illusion of
Erasing your friend's face.
For some people, certain parts of the face will linger, even after you
have
Erased all the rest. The mouth and eyes are the most common parts to
remain,
But it varies from person to person.
Don't worry if it takes a time or two to get the hang of this. If you
can't
Get it to work, try reversing things, so that the wall is on your left,
Instead of your right. If it still won't work, maybe you need to find a
more
Interesting friend.
****************************************
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etc., as
Long as you do not charge for them and my name and e-mail address are
Included.
Please forward this e-mail to anyone that you think might enjoy it.
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Each week I will e-mail you a new experiment that you can try yourself.
I
Look for experiments that are unusual, safe, dramatic, cheap, and fun.
Since
This list includes teachers, parents, science buffs, and students, I
will
try To give you a wide variety of things to try.
Banned in the Media: A Reference Guide
to Censorship in the Press, Motion Pictures, Broadcasting, and the
Internet,
By Herbert N. Foerstel
get the full version of this research at Questia Online Library by
clicking here
Introduction
The 1996 Oxford Modern English Dictionary defines the "media" as "the
main means of mass communication (esp. newspapers and broadcasting)."
The 1995 Cambridge Paperback Encyclopedia ( David Crystal , ed., 2d ed.,
1995) says "media" is "a collective term for television, radio, cinema,
and the press." This book will use these standard definitions, with one
modification: the inclusion of the Internet, the newest and most
controversial form of mass communication.
There is little doubt that the media have overwhelmed books as the preferred source of information and entertainment worldwide, and the United States is both the primary producer and the primary consumer of the media product. A recent study conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau and the New York communications investment house, Veronis Suhler, produced some startling figures. The media business has become one of the twelve largest industries in the United States. Profits are high; operating margins range from 5.4 percent for the emerging interactive digital media to more than 16 percent for broadcasters. Several of the big newspapers do even better. The expectation is that the growth rate of newspaper revenues will double between 1995 and the year 2000, and the other media will do almost as well. 1
More interesting is the data indicating the stranglehold that the media have on the American public. The ordinary American spends 3,400 hours a year consuming the media output. That represents almost 40 percent of our lives, more time than we spend sleeping and far more time than we spend working. Radio and television represent 80 percent of our media consumption. Our reading occupies about an hour a day, half of it for newspapers. By the year 2000, according to the study, we will be reading even less, watching television even more, and spending more time on the Internet. 2
Little wonder, then, that we hear so much
about the power of the media and its influence on everything from
morality to politics. The current problem is not the growing media
power, but the narrowing corporate cabal that wields it. In 1983 Ben
Bagdikian, then journalism dean at the University of California,
Berkeley, published The Media Monopoly, which revealed that at least
half of all media business was controlled by just fifty corporations. By
1987, when his second edition appeared, he reported that just
twenty-nine corporations exercised that power, and by the time of his
fourth edition in 1992, that number had shrunk to twenty. Bagdikian
noted a similar evolution in newspapers and magazines. Of the 1,700
daily newspapers in this country, 98 percent were local monopolies and
most of their combined circulation was controlled by fewer than fifteen
corporations. Among magazines, Time, Inc., alone was responsible for 40
percent of industry revenues. 3
get the full version of this research at Questia Online Library by
clicking here
Bagdikian wrote,
[A] shrinking number of large media corporations now regard monopoly, oligopoly, and historic levels of profit as not only normal, but as their earned right. In the process, the usual democratic expectations for the media -- diversity of ownership and ideas -- have disappeared as the goal of official policy, and worse, as a daily experience of a generation of American viewers and readers. . . . It's no way to maintain a lively marketplace of ideas, which is to say it is no way to maintain a democracy. 4
Bagdikian's trailblazing research and widely praised 1987 edition of The Media Monopoly were virtually ignored by the media. His explanation of why the major media had failed to discuss the disadvantages of media consolidation was simple: editors were not interested in these problems because they were all in the newspaper consolidation business themselves.
Indeed, the media's failure to address the most significant problem in its industry caused that very issue to be declared the "most censored news story of 1987" by the prestigious Project Censored. Every year since 1977, Project Censored, based at Sonoma State University, has published its list of the news issues or "stories" that have been most heavily suppressed during the previous year. The judges who selected the media monopoly story as the "most censored" during 1987 included John Kenneth Galbraith, Bill Moyers, and Judith Krug. Communications professor Carl Jensen, originator of Project Censored, said the judges selected the media monopoly story because it was the root cause for underreporting generally. "We have fewer sources, fewer outlets and more control by fewer people," said Jensen. 5
The problem of media monopolies has worsened in recent years, but it continues to be ignored by the media. Project Censored's latest edition, Censored 1997. The News That Didn't Make the News, featured an article, "Free the Media," that literally mapped out the four giant corporations that control the major television news divisions: the National Broadcasting Company (NBC), the American Broadcasting Company (ABC), the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) and the Cable News Network (CNN). Author Mark Miller notes that two of the four holding corporations are defense contractors (both involved in nuclear production), and the other two purvey entertainment. Miller concludes that we are thus the subjects of a "national entertainment state," in which the news and much of our amusement are provided by the two most powerful industries in the United States.
Miller presents an elaborate chart that maps the tentacles of General Electric, Time Warner, Disney/Cap Cities and Westinghouse, the four media giants. He says a glance at each chart reveals why, say, Tom Brokaw might have difficulty covering stories critical of nuclear power, or ABC News will no longer be likely to do an exposé of Disney's policies, or, indeed, why none of the media is willing to touch the biggest story of them all -- the media monopoly itself.
Miller says such maps "suggest the true
causes of those enormous ills that now dismay so many Americans: the
universal sleaze and 'dumbing down,' the flood tide of corporate
propaganda, the terminal inanity of U.S. politics." He warns that "the
same gigantic players that control the elder media are planning shortly
to absorb the Internet, which could be transformed from a thriving
common wilderness into an immeasurable de facto cyberpark for corporate
interests, with all the dissident voices exiled to sites known only to
the activists." Only a new, broad-based antitrust movement can save the
media, according to Miller. 6
get the full version of this research at Questia Online Library by
clicking here
The media have always been the captive of religion and politics, scorned and manipulated by both in ways beyond anything suffered by book publishers. A recent example of the former is the boycott launched by Baptists against the Walt Disney Company. On June 18, 1997, the Southern Baptist Convention in Dallas, Texas overwhelmingly approved a resolution urging the denomination's 15.7 million members to boycott all presentations and products bearing the Disney name and everything produced by the vast Disney conglomerate that includes Miramax Films, ABC television, ESPN, E! and Disney cable channels and Hyperion Books. The primary objection expressed by the Baptists was Disney's support for homosexuals, as represented by ABC's sitcom "Ellen," whose star is an admitted lesbian and Disney's willingness to grant health benefits to the partners of homosexual employees.
The Baptists admit that the effectiveness of the boycott may not be immediately evident, but Ted Baehr, chairman of the Christian Film and Television Commission, said, "The Crusades were not a high point in public relations for the church, but they give people a feeling of accomplishment, and this boycott may do the same for many Americans." 7
Banned in the U.S.A. ( 1994) examined censorship in book publishing, but only in the context of schools and libraries. This book may be regarded as a sequel to Banned in the U.S.A., but there are significant differences. Banned in the Media examines censorship in six formats -newspapers, magazines, radio, television, motion pictures and the Internet-in a wide variety of contexts. Whereas individual books can be plucked from school classrooms or library shelves by nervous school or library officials, much of the media product is ephemeral, and its censorship is wielded with a broader brush.
An important distinction between my methodologies for analyzing books and the media is the manner in which incidents of censorship are tallied and compared. The number of times a particular book title is banned from school curricula or removed from library shelves can be tallied and a list of the most banned books can be assembled, but much of the media does not admit to such particularization. The wide and disparate variety of media formats make it impossible to analyze statistically and rank incidents across the entire media. Frequently, it is even difficult to isolate and identify the origin of media censorship.
Serial publications, particularly
magazines, are uniquely vulnerable to newsstand or convenience store
boycotts. They also suffer censorship of individual articles or issues.
Motion pictures, like books, have been banned in ways that allow
statistical analysis, but the monolithic
get the full version of this research at Questia Online Library by
clicking here
THE OLDEST ENGLISH EPIC
Translated into Alliterative Verse with a
Critical Introduction by CHARLES W. KENNEDY
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS Oxford London New York
(The full version of Beowulf can be found at
Questia's Online Libary by
clicking here and searching for BEOWULF).
INTRODUCTION
THE Old English Beowulf holds a unique place as the oldest epic
narrative in any modern European tongue. Of unknown authorship, and
dating in all probability from the early eighth century, the poem gives
brilliant presentment of the spirit and embodiment of the heroic
tradition. Illuminating studies of the Beowulf, in comparatively recent
years, by Ker, Lawrence, Chambers, Klaeber, Malone, and others, have
brought increasing appraisal of the extent to which Scandinavian
backgrounds are reflected in its material, literary tradition in its
structure, and Christian influence in its spirit.
Of the circumstances under which the Beowulf was composed we actually
know little, though it is possible to trace with some degree of
clearness the evolution of the material from which the poem is shaped.
Portions of this material must have originally circulated by oral
transmission. The poem itself may well have been developed from an
earlier series of epic lays, though no one of these lays has survived.
In any case, as Ker has pointed out, the Beowulf , in the form in which
it has come down to us, is a single, unified poem. It is, he writes, 'an
extant book, whatever the history of its composition may have been; the
book of the adventures of Beowulf, written out fair by two scribes in
the tenth century; an epic poem, with a prologue at the beginning and a
judgment pronounced on the life of the hero at the end; a single book,
considered as such by its transcribers, and making a claim to be so
considered.'
In the light which modern critical scholarship has focussed upon the
Beowulf , it has come to be recognized that we have here a poem of
cultivated craftsmanship, sophisticated rather than primitive in form,
and definitely influenced by literary and religious tradition. The
influence of the Christian faith is marked and pervasive. There are
evidences, also, which seem to support opinion that the author of the
Beowulf was familiar with the works of Virgil, and that the structure
and development of the poem were influenced by epic tradition as
illustrated in the Aeneid.
The material of which the narrative is shaped is, in large measure, the
material not of primitive English, but of primitive Scandinavian life.
In the weaving of the narrative the warp is, in part at least, fashioned
from the stuff of Continental chronicle and legend. Names of early
Swedish kings, repeatedly mentioned in the Beowulf , have correspondence
to names of kings listed in the ninth-century Ynglingatal . Names and
incidents in the poem relating to the ruling house of the Danes have
their analogues in the Skjoldungasaga, and in the Gesta Danorum of Saxo
Grammaticus. The disastrous expedition against the Franks of 516, in
which Beowulf's uncle, Hygelac, was slain, is set forth in the Historia
Francorum of Gregory of Tours, who wrote within seventy years of the
events described, and in the eighth-century Liber Historiae Francorum .
Into this background are woven dark legends of savage feuds of the
Continental tribes, feuds of the Danes and Frisians, the Danes and
Heathobards, the Geats and Swedes. At Beowulf's death, the prophecy of
Swedish dominion over the Geats derives its tragic foreboding from
chanted memories of the bitter tribal battle at Ravenswood. The songs of
the minstrel in Hrothgar's hall were fashioned from ancient Continental
lays: the dragon-fight of Sigemund, the Volsung; the disastrous battle
of Danes and Frisians at Finnsburg.
In a setting shaped of these elements the poet has developed a
narrative, the material of which is derived from Continental folk-tale.
The haunting of Hrothgar's hall by the night-prowling monster, Grendel,
and the troll-wife, his mother; the adventurous journey of Beowulf, the
Geat, to Dane-land, and his triumph over the monsters; these central
themes in the narrative have their analogues in various versions of the
European folk-tale of 'The Bear's Son.' Certain Scandinavian tales of
the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, the Grettissaga , the
Samsonssaga , the Hrolfssaga , and others, include elements which show
resemblance to this basic material of the Beowulf , and the resemblance
is sufficiently unmistakable to indicate dependence of both the Beowulf
and the sagas upon the same or similar Scandinavian sources.
(The full version of Beowulf''s Introduction can be
found at
Questia's Online Libary by
clicking here and searching for BEOWULF).
BEOWULF
[The Danish Court and the Raids of Grendel]
Lo! we have listened to many a lay
of the Spear-Danes' fame, their splendor of old,
Their mighty princes, and martial deeds!
Many a mead-hall Scyld, son of Sceaf,
Snatched from the forces of savage foes.
From a friendless foundling, feeble and wretched,
He grew to a terror as time brought change.
He throve under heaven in power and pride
Till alien peoples beyond the ocean
Paid toll and tribute. A good king he!
To him thereafter an heir was born,
A son of his house, whom God had given
As stay to the people; God saw the distress
The leaderless nation had long endured.
The Giver of glory, the Lord of life,
Showered fame on the son of Scyld;
His name was honored, Beowulf known,
To the farthest dwellings in Danish lands.
So must a young man strive for good
With gracious gifts from his father's store,
That in later seasons, if war shall scourge,
A willing people may serve him well.
'Tis by earning honor a man must rise
In every state. Then his hour struck,
And Scyld passed on to the peace of God.
(The full version of Beowulf can be found at
Questia's Online Libary by
clicking here and searching for BEOWULF, THE OLDEST ENGLISH
EPIC).
As their leader had bidden, whose word was law
In the Scylding realm which he long had ruled,
His loving comrades carried him down
To the shore of ocean; a ring-prowed ship,
Straining at anchor and sheeted with ice,
Rode in the harbor, a prince's pride.
Therein they laid him, their well-loved lord,
Their ring-bestower, in the ship's embrace,
The mighty prince at the foot of the mast
Amid much treasure and many a gem
From far-off lands. No lordlier ship
Have I ever heard of, with weapons heaped,
With battle-armor, with bills and byrnies.
On the ruler's breast lay a royal treasure
As the ship put out on the unknown deep.
With no less adornment they dressed him round,
Or gift of treasure, than once they gave
Who launched him first on the lonely sea
While still but a child. A golden standard
They raised above him, high over head,
Let the wave take him on trackless seas.
Mournful their mood and heavy their hearts;
Nor wise man nor warrior knows for a truth
Unto what haven that cargo came.
Then Beowulf ruled o'er the Scylding realm,
Beloved and famous, for many a year --
The prince, his father, had passed away --
Till, firm in wisdom and fierce in war,
The mighty Healfdene held the reign,
Ruled, while he lived, the lordly Scyldings.
Four sons and daughters were seed of his line,
Heorogar and Hrothgar, leaders of hosts,
And Halga, the good. I have also heard
A daughter was Onela's consort and queen,
The fair bed-mate of the Battle-Scylfing.
To Hrothgar was granted glory in war,
Success in battle; retainers bold
Obeyed him gladly; his band increased
To a mighty host. Then his mind was moved
To have men fashion a high-built hall,
A mightier mead-hall than man had known,
Wherein to portion to old and young
All goodly treasure that God had given,
Save only the folk-land, and lives of men.
His word was published to many a people
Far and wide o'er the ways of earth
To rear a folk-stead richly adorned;
The task was speeded, the time soon came
That the famous mead-hall was finished and done.
To distant nations its name was known,
The Hall of the Hart; and the king kept well
His pledge and promise to deal out gifts,
Rings at the banquet. The great hall rose
High and horn-gabled, holding its place
Till the battle-surge of consuming flame
Should swallow it up; the hour was near
That the deadly hate of a daughter's husband
Should kindle to fury and savage feud.
(The full version of Beowulf can be found at
Questia's Online Libary by
clicking here and searching for BEOWULF, THE OLDEST ENGLISH
EPIC).
Then an evil spirit who dwelt in the darkness
Endured it ill that he heard each day
The din of revelry ring through the hall,
The sound of the harp, and the scop's sweet song.
A skillful bard sang the ancient story
Of man's creation; how the Maker wrought
The shining earth with its circling waters;
in splendor established the sun and moon
As lights to illumine the land of men;
Fairly adorning the fields of earth
With leaves and branches; creating life
In every creature that breathes and moves.
So the lordly warriors lived in gladness,
At ease and happy, till a fiend from hell
Began a series of savage crimes.
They called him Grendel, a demon grim
Haunting the fen-lands, holding the moors,
Ranging the wastes, where the wretched wight
Made his lair with the monster kin;
He bore the curse of the seed of Cain
Whereby God punished the grievous guilt
Of Abel's murder. Nor ever had Cain
Cause to boast of that deed of blood;
God banished him far from the fields of men;
Of his blood was begotten an evil brood,
Marauding monsters and menacing trolls,
Goblins and giants who battled with God
A long time. Grimly He gave them reward!
Then at the nightfall the fiend drew near
Where the timbered mead-hall towered on high,
To spy how the Danes fared after the feast.
Within the wine-hall. he found the warriors
Fast in slumber, forgetting grief,
Forgetting the woe of the world of men.
Grim and greedy the gruesome monster,
Fierce and furious, launched attack,
Slew thirty spearmen asleep in the hall,
Sped away gloating, gripping the spoil,
Dragging the dead men home to his den.
Then in the dawn with the coming of daybreak
The war-might of Grendel was widely known.
Mirth was stilled by the sound of weeping;
The wail of the mourner awoke with day.
And the peerless hero, the honored prince,
Weighed down with woe and heavy of heart,
Sat sorely grieving for slaughtered thanes,
As they traced the track of the cursed monster.
From that day onward the deadly feud
Was a long-enduring and loathsome strife.
Not longer was it than one night later
The fiend returning renewed attack
With heart firm-fixed in the hateful war,
Feeling no rue for the grievous wrong.
'Twas easy thereafter to mark the men
Who sought their slumber elsewhere afar,
Found beds in the bowers, since Grendel's hate
Was so baldly blazoned in baleful signs.
He held himself at a safer distance
Who escaped the clutch of the demon's claw.
So Grendel raided and ravaged the realm,
One against all, in an evil war
Till the best of buildings was empty and still.
'Twas a weary while! Twelve winters' time
The lord of the Scyldings had suffered woe,
Sore affliction and deep distress.
And the malice of Grendel, in mournful lays,
Was widely sung by the sons of men,
The hateful feud that he fought with Hrothgar --
Year after year of struggle and strife,
An endless scourging, a scorning of peace
With any man of the Danish might.
No strength could move him to stay his hand,
Or pay for his murders; the wise knew well
They could hope for no halting of savage assault.
Like a dark death-shadow the ravaging demon,
Night-long prowling the misty moors,
Ensnared the warriors, wary or weak.
No man can say how these shades of hell
Come and go on their grisly rounds.
(The full version of Beowulf can be found at
Questia's Online Libary by
clicking here and searching for BEOWULF, THE OLDEST ENGLISH
EPIC).
With many an outrage, many a crime,
The fierce lone-goer, the foe of man,
Stained the seats of the high-built house,
Haunting the hall in the hateful dark.
But throne or treasure he might not touch,
Finding no favor or grace with God.
Great was the grief of the Scylding leader,
His spirit shaken, while many a lord
Gathered in council considering long
In what way brave men best could struggle
Against these terrors of sudden attack.
From time to time in their heathen temples
Paying homage they offered prayer
That the Slayer of souls would send them succor
From all the torment that troubled the folk.
Such was the fashion and such the faith
Of their heathen hearts that they looked to hell,
Not knowing the Maker, the mighty Judge,
Nor how to worship the Wielder of glory,
The Lord of heaven, the God of hosts.
Woe unto him who in fierce affliction
Shall plunge his soul in the fiery pit
With no hope of mercy or healing change;
But well with the soul that at death seeks God,
And finds his peace in his Father's bosom.
The son of Healfdene was heavy-hearted,
Sorrowfully brooding in sore distress,
Finding no help in a hopeless strife;
Too bitter the struggle that stunned the people,
The long oppression, loathsome and grim.
(The full version of Beowulf can be found at
Questia's Online Libary by
clicking here and searching for BEOWULF, THE OLDEST ENGLISH
EPIC).