Witch's Muggle Office

Welcome to my office!!

Yay for my first Edition as a Pensive Member! XD

Good day, Pensieve readers! I'm Maggie, your muggle reporter! Here, I'll introduce you witches and wizards to wizarding item's muggle equivalents. Hmm...What magical item will we have for this issue? Let's see....Ah...The Marauder's Map!!

James Potter and friends created this handy magical item when they were at Hogwarts. Disguised as a seemingly ordinary piece of blank parchment paper, the map came to life when the bearer said, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." The enchanted parchment would then display a map of the immediate area, including secret passages and even people wandering nearby. An item that's sure is useful! And believe it or not, it has a muggle equivalent!!

Now, if Harry had been a science whiz instead of a wizard, he would have probably used the Garmin eTrex GPS than a magic map. GPS stands for Global Positioning System, which uses satellites to keep track of your location. GPS displays maps on its small screen and lets you know exactly where you are, how long you've been traveling and what directions you've taken. I'm wondering now if this muggle gadget was made cause they knew the existence of the Marauder's Map. Well, if so, I bet the Ministry would then have the gadget's maker called on court. And this is is just a proof that not only wizards, like Mr.Weasley, are fond of stuffs from the other side of the world. That muggles, for some reason, are also into magical items.

Amusing, right? The thing actually is a great muggle version of the Maruader's Map. Unfortunately, a GPS won't tell you how to sneak into your classroom when you're late.

This is really good. What section are you submitting it to? It would make a good editorial.

Thanks.

I'll have it for Feature actually. I can make another for editorial, though. XD

Like raising "Do muggles know the existence of wizarding items?" and such?Hmmmm...

If you like. I wasn't sure. It did sound more like a feature piece.

Yah, right. I'd probably stick to have it for Feature. Cause my subject does play with the magical items' muggle equivalents. Anyway, thanks for the thoughts.

*tacklehuggleglomps* Thanks!

Now, more. XD



Muggles really are fond of doing odd things. If not odd, at least something uncommonly done by an average muggle. Like this man whom we'll get to know a bit better through this article.

Lived from 1805 to 1871, Jean Eugene Robert-Houdin, was known as the Father of Modern Magic.

Houdin single-handedly changed the course of magical shows, moving them from the outdoors to elegant theaters where even high society paid a lot of money to see him perform. Using his mechanical skills and knowledge of clocks - his father is a clockmaker - he invented mechanical figures called "Automata". These lifelike robots could swing like trapeze artists across a stage! He also used electromagnetism to perform his famous "Light and Heavy Box" trick, where a volunteer would try to move the box, but wouldn't be able to. Houdin would se4cretly fix an iron bottom to the small box and attach a strong electromagnet under the stage to hold the box in place.

Now that you know the trick, I'll not be surprised if one day I'll hear you saying you've tried it.

Houdin became so famous in the span of his 11-year magic career that many years later, he inspired a boy to take up magic - young Erich Weiss, who would become the great Harry Houdini.


Fast Fact: Houdin got hooked on magic when a book on magic was sent to him by mistake - or fate.

Here are some fast muggle fun facts that'll make witches and wizards find the muggle world as interesting as they can be.


* If you think that scrapping the burnt bits off your toast to make patterns is about as artistic as toasts gets, you're wrong! In 1983, Japanese artist Tadahiko Ogawa made a copy of the Mona Lisa entirely out of toast. We bet Leonardo Da Vinci would be impressed!

* If you place all the Harry Potter books end to end, they would go around the equator 1.4 times.

* This is so cheesy! There are more than 2,000 different varieties of cheese in the world.

* Male goats will pee on each other in order to attract mates. we're glad it doesn't work the same for humans!

* Albert Einstein's parents worried that their son wasn't fully developed mentally because it took him a long time to learn how to speak.

* Whale Mail? From 1939 to 1942, there was an undersea post office in the Bahamas.

* Talk about stopping traffic! According to research, highways in Los Angeles are so jampacked that the average commuters sits in traffic for 82 hours a year.

*In October 1973, a Swedish candy maker named Roland Ohisson was buried in a coffin made entirely of chocolate.

* In a lifetime, the average driver will honk his car horn 15,250 times. Now that's road rage!

* Here's another great reason to be a kid: Children laugh about 400 times a day, while adults only laugh an average of 15 times a day.

WARNING: This science experiment involves fire. Ask for your parents' permission before you try this out. Have an adult with you to help you use the matches and work in a room with open windows because there will be a lot of smoke.


Materials: metal pan, box of matches, cutter

Step 1: Cut along the sides of the matchbox's striking surface (the brown part) with the cutter.

Step 2: Carefully peel off the strip. It will be a bit hard to do, but just do it slowly and it should come off. It's okay if it comes of in pieces.

Step 3: Lay the pieces you peeled off brown side down in the middle of the pan.

Step 4: Light the pieces. Let them burn completely into black ash. This will make a lot of smoke so be sure to work in a well-ventilated area.

Step 5: Push the ash aside and you will see the brown residue left on the pan. Throw away the ash.

Step 6: Rub the brown stuff on your fingertips (those residues).

Step 7: Rub your fingertips together. Smoke will begin to rise from them!


NOTE: Don't inhale the smoke and be sure to wash your hands well afterward.

How It Works:

The striking surface of the matchbox contains several chemicals, one of which is red phosphorus. When burned, red phosphorus is released onto the surface of the metal. (Don't worry red phosphorus is not a poisonous substance.) This substance has the strange characteristic of burning at a low temperature. The heat you create by rubbing your fingertips together is enough to make the red phosphorus smolder - and send smoke curling from your fingertips!!







~~~

Okay, that's four articles in total. Plus, comic strips, soon before deadline.

*nods*

I'll let you know by Sunday at the lastest if there's anything i can't put into the edition, i can't foresee a problem but i'm still waiting for articles from other people so i don't know how much room i have for all the features submitted.

Oh sure.

And, uhm....I'm sorry, but I cannot have the comic strip in here now.
The shop I'm renting computer to be used for HE fails me, I never knew they don't have a scanner.

Sorry, sorry, and sorry. >.<
They might be up for the Next Edition maybe. Hopefully, by that time my laptop is fixed. Then everything will be as easy as eating chocolates.