Podcasts about what looked like

In 1873 a Methodist missionary in New York City heard rumors of a little girl who was kept locked in a tenement and regularly whipped. She uncovered a shocking case of neglect and abuse that made headlines around the world. In this week's episode of the Futility Closet podcast we'll tell how one girl's ordeal led to a new era in child welfare. We'll also outsource Harry Potter and puzzle over Wayne Gretzky's accomplishments. Intro: By a 1976 resolution, George Washington forever outranks every other officer in the U.S. Army. Humorist Robert Benchley invented some creative excuses for missing deadlines. Sources for our feature on Mary Ellen Wilson: Eric A. Shelman and Stephen Lazoritz, The Mary Ellen Wilson Child Abuse Case and the Beginning of Children's Rights in 19th Century America, 2005. Susan J. Pearson, The Rights of the Defenseless: Protecting Animals and Children in Gilded Age America, 2011. Frank R. Ascione, Children and Animals: Exploring the Roots of Kindness and Cruelty, 2005. John E.B. Myers, Child Protection in America: Past, Present, and Future, 2006. Karel Kurst-Swanger and Jacqueline L. Petcosky, Violence in the Home: Multidisciplinary Perspectives, 2003. Mary Renck Jalongo, "The Story of Mary Ellen Wilson: Tracing the Origins of Child Protection in America," Early Childhood Education Journal 34:1 (August 2006), 1-4. Lela B. Costin, "Unraveling the Mary Ellen Legend: Origins of the 'Cruelty' Movement," Social Service Review 65:2 (June 1991), 203-223. Sallie A. Watkins, "The Mary Ellen Myth: Correcting Child Welfare History," Social Work 35:6 (November 1990), 500-503. Jini L. Roby, "Child Welfare Workers in the Legal Arena: What Works, What Doesn't," Child & Youth Care Forum 30:5 (October 2001), 305-319. John E.B. Myers, "A Short History of Child Protection in America," Family Law Quarterly 42:3 (Fall 2008), 449-463. Susan Vivian Mangold, "Protection, Privatization, and Profit in the Foster Care System," Ohio State Law Journal 60 (1999), 1295. Natan Sznaider, "Compassion and Control: Children in Civil Society," Childhood 4:2 (1997). Marian Eide, "The First Chapter of Children's Rights," American Heritage 41:5 (July/August 1990). Wanda Mohr, Richard J. Gelles, Ira M. Schwartz, "Shackled in the Land of Liberty: No Rights for Children," Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 564:1 (July 1999), 37-55. Gerald P. Mallon, "From the Editor: The Legend of Mary Ellen Wilson and Etta Wheeler: Child Maltreatment and Protection Today," Child Welfare 92:2 (March/April 2013), 9-11. Amy D. Ronner, "Dostoevsky as Juvenile Justice Advocate and Progenitor of Therapeutic Jurisprudence," St. Thomas Law Review 30:1 (Fall 2017), 5-41. "Mary Ellen Wilson: Fact and Fiction," [Wooster, Ohio] Daily Record, April 29, 2017, 7. Howard Markel, "Case Shined First Light on Abuse of Children," New York Times, Dec. 14, 2009. Daniel Bergner, "The Case of Marie and Her Sons," New York Times Magazine, July 23, 2006. Al Baker, "Plan to Hasten Abuse Inquiries Came Up Short," New York Times, Jan. 21, 2006. "Mary Ellen Wilson," New York Times, June 14, 1874. "Mary Ellen Wilson," New York Times, June 2, 1874. "The Custody of Mary Ellen Wilson," New York Times, May 1, 1874. "Mary Ellen Wilson," New York Times, April 22, 1874. "Mary Ellen Wilson; Further Testimony in the Case Two Indictments Found Against Mrs. Connolly by the Grand Jury," New York Times, April 14, 1874. "Mary Ellen Wilson; Further Testimony as to the Child's Ill Treatment by Her Guardians," New York Times, April 12, 1874. "The Mission of Humanity; Continuation of the Proceedings Instituted by Mr. Bergh on Behalf of the Child, Mary Ellen Wilson," New York Times, April 11, 1874. "Mr. Bergh Enlarging His Sphere of Usefulness," New York Times, April 10, 1874. Listener mail: Mary Ilyushina and Lianne Kolirin, "Russia Reopens Investigation Into 60-Year-Old Dyatlov Pass Mystery," CNN, Feb. 4, 2019. "Russia's Reopening the Investigation of the Spooky Dyatlov Pass Incident," The Chive, Feb. 8, 2019 (warning: contains some potentially disturbing photos and one strong expletive). Emma Friedlander, "Russian Investigators Are Reopening the Dyatlov Pass Case. But What Is It?" Moscow Times, Feb. 14, 2019. Wikipedia, "Tiddles" (accessed Feb. 12, 2019). Rob Baker, "Tiddles, a rather fat cat that lived in the public lavatories at Paddington Station - 1978 - photo by Chris Moorhouse," Twitter, Jan. 22, 2019. Anna Menta, "Absurd New 'Harry Potter' Book Written By Predictive Text Already Has Fan Art," Newsweek, Dec. 14, 2017. Gael Fashingbauer Cooper, "Harry Potter Chapter Written by Bots Is Magically Terrible," CNET, Dec. 12, 2017. Charles Pulliam-Moore, "This New Harry Potter Chapter, Written With Predictive Keyboards, Is Magically Unhinged," io9, Dec. 12, 2017. Shannon Liao, "This Harry Potter AI-Generated Fanfiction Is Remarkably Good," The Verge, Dec 12, 2017. Evan Narcisse, "That Freaky Bot-Written Harry Potter Chapter Got Turned into a Freaky Cartoon," io9, Feb. 13, 2018. Botnik. Harry Potter and the Portrait of What Looked Like a Large Pile of Ash. This week's lateral thinking puzzle was contributed by listener Mandie Bauer. Here's a corroborating link (warning -- this spoils the puzzle). You can listen using the player above, download this episode directly, or subscribe on Google Podcasts, on Apple Podcasts, or via the RSS feed at https://futilitycloset.libsyn.com/rss. Please consider becoming a patron of Futility Closet -- you can choose the amount you want to pledge, and we've set up some rewards to help thank you for your support. You can also make a one-time donation on the Support Us page of the Futility Closet website. Many thanks to Doug Ross for the music in this episode. If you have any questions or comments you can reach us at podcast@futilitycloset.com. Thanks for listening!

Alexis and Mallory catch up on the last few months' worth of Wizarding World news, focusing on the more disappointing of the bunch in the Suitcase. We kick off with an excerpt from "Harry Potter and the Portrait of What Looked Like a Large Pile of Ash," or the AI-generated Harry Potter chapter that had us rolling around laughing. If you have no patience for frivolity, skip to minute 3. There's a film title! Locations! Casting! And confirmation that yes, Saul Marquez of bookstacked.com fame is, indeed, a seer! A hilarious snafu in the house editions, probably due to some Intern picking up a tidbit from the Internet (a Most Reputable Source), and we can't help but laugh More editions Um, kind of an awesome VR RPG mobile app ????? Will this be a dream or a disappointment ??? The foot in mouth diseased Yates and the words he used in explaining the casting of Grindelwald. Plus: Rowling's take on everything with a dash of Heyman. We added a sprinkle of Radcliffe to sweeten the problematic pie. Dumbledore is Gay and We Might Not Know it in This Film Next time: unanswerable (with canon) questions people ask about the Harry Potter universe when they're high! Tweet us your questions: @newtcasts (Twitter) /NewtCast (Facebook)

In a complete departure from our usual approach, we spend this episode composing and reading text using Botnik's predictive text generators: the system used to write Harry Potter and the Portrait of What Looked Like a Large Pile of Ash. We give that a once over, and then play around with our own, including a Nicki Minaj song, Seinfeld beat poetry, and some crossover fic. This episode is a bit o' knickers.

This week, we are esteemed caretakers of holiday cheer. Slip into your coziest PJs, curl up next to a roaring fireplace, throw on Sia's latest and gurgle on a nice, thick cup o' nog: it's Christmas time! Discussed: Harry Potter and the Portrait of What Looked Like a Large Pile of Ash. Kringleian. Put the "Christ" back in Christmas, god dammit. Christmas vibes vs. overt consumerism. PaPaw. Hot chocolate. Christmas traditions. Stories of Christmases with siblings. Believing in Santa Claus. Gift giving. Instant Pot ribs. Smoked meats. Being awkward gift recipients. Christkindlmarket, Chicago. White elephant. Saran Wrap ball. Christmas music covers. The Muppet Christmas Carol. Homical Frosty the Snowman. Love Actually. Die Hard. Playing RPGS and Nintendo games during Christmas. Receiving video games as Christmas gifts. Gingerbread houses. Egg nog. A stunning variety of holiday milk options. Finding the strength to consume less dairy. Christmas Day plans. Star Wars. The Dark Souls of Zelda DLC. "I'm Not Really in the Christmas Mood This Year" by Foxtails Brigade: http://bit.ly/2CL0VNi "O Holy Night" by Matt Mulholland: http://bit.ly/2kC7Gc2

- Welcome Slug Club member Hayden! - JKR found inspiration for the Hogwarts Houses in the most unlikely of places - Another new Harry Potter video game is coming that's been in development for two years! - It's set in the 1980s with an open world concept - Plus, you can be a Hogwarts student and go through all seven years - We discuss David Heyman's comments about the role of beasts in The Crimes of Grindelwald - Eddie Redmayne confirms the Niffler and Pickett are back! - We theorize on the formidable Chinese beast: Chinese Fireball, Phoenix, Re'em or other? - Many actors have officially wrapped filming The Crimes of Grindelwald - Christmas and New Year's in the Wizarding World - where would we spend the holidays? - Does Santa exist? Andrew thinks Hagrid would have made the perfect Father Christmas! - What do Potter fans have to look forward to in 2018? - A new ride in Orlando, Cursed Child on Broadway, The Crimes of Grindelwald and more! - The last Quizzitch question of 2017 targets Goblet of Fire! - Thank you for a great year in Potter! We'll see you all in 2018! - Bonus MuggleCast: We read from the latest Potter novel - Harry Potter and What Looked Like a Large Pile of Ash