text:
Sexual Health/Hormonal Contraceptives

A number of contraceptives are based on the use of hormones by women to prevent pregnancy. These methods are generally very effective at preventing unwanted pregnancy, but do not reduce the transmission of STDs at all. It is important, therefore, that partners using hormonal contraceptives also use barrier contraceptives to protect against disease.

Combined hormonal contraception
The most common hormonal methods use both a synthetic version of estrogen, and a synthetic version of progesterone (called a 'progestin'). The most common method is "the pill," but these hormones may also be delivered through a patch that adheres to the skin, or a flexible plastic ring that is inserted into the vagina.

Combined hormonal methods work by preventing ovulation. They also have possible back-up effects of changing the mucus produced by the cervix (to prevent sperm from getting inside the uterus), and of making it difficult for any embryo to implant in the uterus.

The Pill
The Pill is taken orally every day. To be effective, it must be taken within 12 hours of the same time each day. The Pill usually comes in packages of 28 pills. The first 21 pills are "active" pills that contain hormones. The last seven pills are "inactive", or "placebo" pills. Inactive pills do not contain hormones, and are just there to help a woman remember to take a pill every day. When a woman stops taking active pills, she will have "withdrawal bleeding", usually called a period.

There are two main types of pills. Monophasic pills have the same amount of hormones in every active pill. Bi-phasic or tri-phasic pills have different amounts of hormones (two different levels in bi-phasic, three different levels in tri-phasic). If a woman wants to delay her period, or avoid it altogether, she may take active, monophasic pills every day, with no placebo pills until she is ready to have her period. If this is done for a long time, or if it is attempted with bi- or tri-phasic pills, the woman is very likely to have "breakthrough bleeding".

The Patch
A recent addition to the lineup of hormonal contraceptives is the patch. The patch goes on the skin, and releases hormones through the skin that work the same as the pill. Patches are worn for one week at a time, for three weeks, and then a one-week break is taken to cause a period.

For some women, the patch may cause irritation to the skin. If it persists, such irritation should be brought to the attention of a doctor.

The Ring
The vaginal contraceptive ring is a flexible plastic ring that is inserted into the vagina. It is worn for three weeks, and then a one week break is taken. The woman will have a period sometime during the break week.

Progesterone-only contraception
While commonly known as progesterone-only methods, these contraceptives do not actually contain progesterone, but rather a synthetic chemical known as a progestin. The mechanism of action of these contraceptives depends on amount of progestin that is given to the woman.

All progestin-only contraceptives cause changes in cervical mucus that may prevent sperm from entering the woman's uterus. They may also make it more difficult for embryos to implant in the uterus. Contraceptives that deliver a low dose of progestin include traditional progesterone-only pills as well as implants Norplant and Jadelle. These methods prevent ovulation about 50% of the time.

The progesterone-only pill Cerazette and the implant Implanon deliver an intermediate dose of progestin. These methods prevent ovulation about 98% of the time. Injectable methods like Depo-Provera deliver a high dose of progestin. These methods completely inhibit follicular development and ovulation.

Progesterone-only pill
Like the combined pill, progesterone-only pills are taken orally every day. While Cerazette has the same 12 hour window of effectiveness as the combined pill, the traditional progesterone-only pills (the mini-pill) must be taken within 3 hours of the same time each day to be effective.

Unlike the combined pill, progesterone-only pills are all active; there are no placebo pills. With the mini-pill, menstruation will still occur, but because the pill sometimes suppresses ovulation, menstruation will be irregular. Some women do not experience any menstruation while on the mini-pill.

Depo-Provera
Also known as the shot, Depo-Provera is a high dose of progestin injected into the woman with a syringe. The woman must go back to her doctor or health clinic every twelve weeks (three months) to receive a new injection. While irregular bleeding and spotting is a common side effect, regular menstruation will not happen while the woman is on the shot.

Pregnancy may occur if a woman misses an appointment to renew the shot. However, return of fertility varies widely between women, and some women will not get pregnant until a year after their last shot. For this reason, it is recommended that women who want to become pregnant in the near future use a different method of birth control. Depo-Provera is known to cause loss of bone density. Because of the seriousness of this side effect, the manufacturer does not recommend that women use the shot for longer than two years.

In some women, the shot causes skin irritation around the location of injection.

Implant
Previously available was Norplant (a five-rod implant), which was taken off the market due to difficulties removing the rods. The manufacturer now offers a three-rod implant called Jadelle that works in the same way, but is easier to remove. Both Norplant and Jadelle are effective in preventing pregnancy for five years.

Implanon is a single-rod implant that is effective for three years.

Side Effects
No hormonal method protects against STDs.

Combined hormonal methods cause increased risk of blood clots and stroke. Progesterone-only methods do not carry these risks.

All hormonal methods have a possible effect of causing changes in sexual desire, most commonly loss of interest in sex and decreased ability to orgasm, but also possibly an increased sex drive. Depression is also a possible side effect. All women will react differently to hormonal contraceptives, and if a particular hormone or hormone mixture is causing such unwanted side-effects, it is possible that a different type of contraceptive might not have those side effects. Consult your doctor to discuss your contraceptives.

title: Sexual Health/Hormonal Contraceptives


text:
Sexual Health/Other Birth Control Methods

There are a number of other birth control methods besides hormonal and barrier methods. We will discuss some of them here.

IUD
An IUD, or "Intrauterine Device" is a small hard object, typically made of metal or plastic, that is inserted into the uterus. The IUD causes the body to release substances that are hostile to both sperm and eggs. Copper enhances this spermicidal effect.

Some IUDs contain a hormone-releasing cylinder instead of copper. These are known as IntraUterine Systems (IUS). The hormones in an IUS reduce the frequency of ovulation (by 10-50%), cause changes in cervical mucus that prevent sperm from entering the uterus, and also cause changes in the endometrium that may prevent embryos from implanting.

Copper IUDs can be used as an emergency contraceptive. Emergency contraceptives are birth control methods that are designed to prevent pregnancy after unprotected sex, or sex where the primary contraception (usually a broken condom) fails. Inserting an IUD within 5 days of unprotected sex has a 99% chance of preventing pregnancy.

IUDs do not protect against STDs.

Morning-After Pill
The morning after pill, also known as the emergency contraceptive pill, is a high-dose hormonal contraceptive that can be taken after unprotected sex, or sex where the primary contraceptive has failed. The morning after pill causes the uterus to shed its lining, effectively prompting an immediate menstruation that washes the fertilized egg out of the uterus. There is some risk involved with the emergency contraceptive pill, and there have been a handful of deaths reported among women who have used the pill. It is unknown in these cases whether the emergency contraceptive itself caused those deaths. Regardless, care should be taken when using an emergency contraceptive, and you should consult your doctor.

The morning after pill does not prevent against STDs.

Fertility Awareness Methods
Fertility awareness methods teach women to observe one or more of their primary fertility signs: basal body temperature, cervical mucus, and cervical position. From these signs, the woman can known when she is fertile (approximately 8-10 days of each menstrual cycle), and when she is not fertile. To avoid pregnancy, the woman will not have intercourse, or will use some other method of birth control, on days she is fertile.

Fertility awareness is best learned in a class. A good fertility awareness teacher will provide individualized instruction based on a woman's own observations. A class in fertility awareness should also provide suggestions on how to make abstinence during fertile times easier, or on how to remember to use other methods of birth control on those days. Most fertility awareness teachers are associated with the Roman Catholic Church; inquiring at the local Catholic diocese is a good way of finding a teacher. Catholic teachers usually call the method natural family planning, or NFP. Local women's health clinics may be aware of non-religious fertility awareness teachers in their area.

In addition to these observational methods, there are statistical methods that estimate when a woman is fertile. They are the Rhythm Method (a formula based on menstrual cycle length) and the Standard Days Method (can only be used by women whose menstrual cycles are always between 26 and 32 days). While easier to learn, these statistical methods are not as accurate as the observational methods.

Fertility awareness methods do not protect against STDs.

Withdrawal
Before ejaculation, a man may remove his penis from the woman's vagina, and ejaculate away from her genital area. The fluid that comes out of a man's penis prior to ejaculation, known as Cowper's fluid or pre-ejaculate fluid, is not believed to contain viable sperm. (An exception is if the man has ejaculated recently - there may be sperm left from the previous ejaculation in the urethra.)

Precisely predicting the time of ejaculation is very difficult. Getting even a small amount of semen in a woman's vagina or on her vulva results in a very high risk of pregnancy, and it is not recommended that couples rely only on withdrawal as birth control. However, withdrawal may be used to increase the effectiveness of other methods. Using withdrawal in combination with a hormonal method or barrier method will lower the risk of pregnancy.

If a couple is using withdrawal, the man should urinate after ejaculation and before any other sexual contact. This is to clear any remaining sperm out of the urethra.

Withdrawal does not protect against STDs: infectious microorganisms can be present in pre-ejaculate fluid.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/


text:
Sexual Health/Fertility and Infertility

The ability to become pregnant and carry the pregnancy to term is known as fertility. Infertility, also called subfertility, is medically defined as having unprotected intercourse for one year and not becoming pregnant. Even if they became pregnant easily, women may experience many miscarriages, known as repeated pregnancy loss (RPL).

In Women
Endometriosis, blocked tubes, annovulation, luteal phase defect, hostile cervical mucus, hormonal disorders such as abnormal thyroid function and PCOS.

Repeated Pregnancy Loss
Over 25% of pregnancies end in miscarriage, and it is very common for a woman to have one or two miscarriages before carrying a pregnancy to term. If a woman has four miscarriages in a row, however, she is considered to have repeated pregnancy loss, or RPL. Possible causes of RPL should be tested for by a doctor, possibly a reproductive endocrinologist (RE).

In Men
Low total sperm count, low percentage of motile sperm, low percentage of normally shaped sperm.

Drugs that induce ovulation
In women who do not ovulate, or ovulate only rarely, the drug clomifene citrate (Clomid) may be prescribed. Clomid may also lengthen the luteal phase of women with luteal phase defect. However, clomid decreases the production of cervical mucus, possibly decreasing the number of sperm that are able to pass through the cervix into the uterus and fallopian tubes.

More powerful drugs - known as injectables - may be used if several unsuccessful cycles with Clomid or similar drugs do not result in pregnancy. While injectable cycles have higher pregnancy rates, they also have higher risks of conceiving multiple fetuses.

Intra-Uterine Insemination
In intra-uterine insemination (IUI), a medical practitioner places the man's sperm directly inside the woman's uterus. This bypasses the cervix, overcoming any problems with cervical mucus and sperm transport.

In Vitro Fertilization
In in vitro fertilization (IVF), the woman is given drugs to cause many ovarian follicles (eggs) to mature instead of the normal one or two per menstrual cycle. These eggs are harvested, and combined in a laboratory with the man's sperm. The resulting embryos are monitored for quality, and several days after fertilization one or more embryos are placed in the woman's uterus. Any embryos not transferred that cycle are frozen for future use.

Donor Eggs and Sperm
Some couples choose to use eggs, sperm, or both, from donors. This may be because the man or woman does not have any eggs or sperm of their own; their eggs or sperm are unable to create embryos; or one or both members of the couple have genetic health problems that they do not want to pass on. If the couple chooses to use donor eggs, they must use IVF. If they are only using donor sperm, they may use IVF, IUI, or artificial insemination (AI). (In AI, the semen is placed in the vagina, near the woman's cervix, with a diaphragm or diaphragm-style menstrual cup.)

Surrogacy
If the woman is not capable of carrying a pregnancy, they may hire a surrogate. In traditional surrogacy, the man's sperm, or donor sperm, is used to impregnate the surrogate (through AI or IUI). Any resulting child is genetically the child of the surrogate. In gestational surrogacy, the intended mother's eggs, or donor eggs, are used to create embryos through IVF. Any resulting child is genetically unrelated to the surrogate.

title: Sexual Health/Fertility and Infertility


text:
Sexual Health/Sexual Dysfunction

There are a number of problems that can arise in the act of sex, and these are known collectively as sexual dysfunctions.

Male Dysfunctions
Males can suffer from a number of sexual dysfunctions, such as erectile dysfunction, or premature ejaculation.

Erectile Dysfunction
Erectile dysfunction, or "ED" is the inability of the man to achieve or maintain an adequately hard erection. This can be caused by poor blood-flow to the genitals, hormone problems, psychological problems, and a variety of other issues. Men who have high blood pressure or high cholesterol are at risk for developing ED. Similarly, men who have large amounts of psychological stress may be unable to develop an erection. ED is known to be provoked by alcohol brewers droop, smoking and most recreational drugs. Some prescription drugs such as those used to control high blood pressure (hypertension) also cause ED

If the cause of ED is physical, Viagra can sometimes be used to help develop an erection. Viagra works by increasing the blood flow to the penis, and causing the penis to store more of that blood in the erectile tissue. ED is usually a symptom of something more serious, and Viagra should never be used without medical advice from a doctor. Speaking to a doctor about sexual dysfunction is often extremely embarrassing for the patient, but doctors are trained to listen and advise.

Premature Ejaculation
Premature ejaculation occurs when a man ejaculates quickly, after little or no sexual contact, and sometimes without orgasm. After a man ejaculates, he may lose his erection quickly, and be unable to satisfy his partner. Premature ejaculation can be caused by a variety of physical and mental issues, and a doctor should be consulted on the best way to treat it. Premature ejaculation should not be confused with pre-emission - a natural lubricant sometimes produced by some men when sexually aroused,

Delayed Ejaculation
Delayed Ejaculation is a condition where men are unable to ejaculate in a reasonable amount of time given "adequate" sexual stimulation. The average man will ejaculate in 5 minutes or less of active thrusting, and not being able to achieve orgasm in such a situation after a long period of time (or being unable to achieve one at all) is delayed ejaculation. A period of sexual abstinence and physical rest(three or four days) may help, but if the condition persists, medical advice is essential, as this may be a symptom of a more serious problem.

Anorgasmia
Anorgasmia is a sexual dysfunction that can strike both males and females, but is significantly more common in females. Also, anorgasmia has almost never been studied in males, so there isn't enough data or statistics on that subject.

Anorgasmia is the inability to have an orgasm, under the influence of adequate sexual stimulation. Anorgasmia is highly related to delayed ejaculation in males, except delayed orgasm is marked by not being able to achieve orgasm in an acceptable timeframe, while anorgasmia is marked by being unable to achieve orgasm at all.

There is a studied link between anorgasmia and anti-depressant medications. Anorgasmia does not necessarily prevent conception.

Treatment
The greatest obstacle to treatment of sexual disorders is the social embarrassment of speaking about very private matters to a public medical professional. The longer the problem is kept secret, the more difficult the treatment. Because satisfactory sexual function is dependent on good health, dysfunction often is a symptom of some unrelated medical or psychological condition which is likely to be a lot less sensitive to social castigation. Early medical consultation, preferably with your sexual partner for support, can often remedy the situation with only minor medicinal intervention, especially in young patients.

title: Sexual Health/Sexual Dysfunction


text:
Sexual Health/Sexual Harassment

Sexual Harassment or Rape is a form of verbal or physical abuse where the target of the harassment is repeatedly insulted or addressed in an unwanted, sexual manner. Sexual harassment can include unwanted touching, rubbing, or groping, unwanted comments of a sexual nature, repeated offers for or requests of sexual contact, and calling a person sex-related names. "Sexual Harassment" is a very broad term for a large number of actions, all of which bring unwanted sexual attention to the victim. Sexual harassment is considered a crime in most jurisdictions.

How to Spot Harassment
Sexual harassment, like all other forms of mobbing or bullying is defined by the sufferer. If someone makes unwelcome advances, and do not desist when it is explained their action is unwelcome then that persistently unwelcome behaviour may have a psychological consequence, such as a reluctance to be in the presence of the offender.

How to Stop Harassment
Reacting to bad behaviour with complaints or threats is likely to aggravate rather than moderate the unwelcome behaviour. It is best to try to ignore provocation at the time it occurs, and ask someone you trust to convey your displeasure or distress to the aggressor.

Boys and girls should be provided with moral and ethical education and a sense of accountability.

Get Help/Support
Many institutions such as schools, major employers and police have trained mediators to intervene. A mediation typically involves one or two mediators whose job is to take highly charged emotional language from the parties concerned in the offence and to rephrase statements in neutral language.

Mediation is not easy, because it means that victim and aggressor must face each other and try to understand the other's point of view. It is however psychologically much more effective and permanent than conventional punishment, which often gives aggressors a bizarre sense of pride, a tangible reward for bad behaviour.

title: Sexual Health/Sexual Harassment


text:
Sexual Health/Rape

Rape is a criminal act where the aggressor forces the victim to engage in sex or unwanted sexual contact. Rape is an aggressive, violent crime, that can have serious criminal repercussions for the aggressor, and serious mental, emotional, and physical repercussions for the victim. In most legal jurisdictions rape can occur within marriage.

What Is Rape
The definition of what precisely is "rape" is different depending on the legal jurisdiction where the crime takes place. Many instances of forced sexual contact are referred to by the general term "sexual assault". This page will consider all forced sexual contact as being "rape", and will use that term accordingly. It is important to note that the definition of rape here is going to be more broad then it likely is in the law where the reader lives.

Rape occurs when sexual acts are performed without the express consent of one party. This can include, but is not limited to:
 * Instances when consent is forced, such as through threats of violence.
 * Instances when consent is coerced, such as between people with authority (doctors, teachers, other leaders) and subordinates although this is often only the case where the victim is considered vulnerable and unable to properly consent.
 * When the victim is below the age of consent, and the other partner is an adult although there is significant variability in the law of different countries.
 * When the victim is incapable of giving informed consent, such as while being under the influence of drugs or alcohol or a mental disorder.

Rape is most often performed by a male attacker against a female victim. However, this is not always true, and it is not uncommon for men to be raped by women or other men, or for women to be raped by other women.

Rape is illegal in most legal codes because it is harmful to physical or mental wellbeing of the victim. Even in a case where unwanted sexual contact is not considered "rape", it will likely be illegal as an act of sexual assault, common assault, domestic violence or some other violent crime. Threats of rape, or suggestions of unwanted sexual nature are typically instances of sexual harassment, which can also be illegal.

Statutory Rape
The age of consent is the age at which it is deemed children are able to make informed decisions about sexual participation. People below the age of consent are considered "minors", and people above the age of consent are considered "adults". It is typically against the law for an adult to have sex with a minor, even if the sex is consensual. In an instance where a minor is married to an adult (assuming such practice is legal), sex between the couple is allowed as being part of a married union although consent is usually still required. The rape between a minor and an adult is called statutory rape in the US, although that term can also be used in different situations.

Date Rape
Date rape occurs when when a victim is attacked by a friend or other acquaintance. This is different from other cases of rape where the victim typically does not know the attacker. It is not uncommon for rape to be committed by:

 * Friends or acquaintances
 * Boyfriends, girlfriends, or other people on a date.
 * People involved in a long term relationship such as marriage.

It is important to note that unwanted sexual contact is usually rape, even if the victim and the attacker are in a sexual relationship or a marriage, although in some countries this is not the case. Date rape can occur when one person has sex with a friend or acquaintance when that person is under the influence of drugs or alcohol. There is even a special class of drugs known as "date rape drugs" that are used to subdue the victim. These drugs can be administered in secret, through food or drinks, even in public areas.

Lasting Effects
Rape causes a number of harmful side-effects in the physical and emotional wellbeing of the victim. The issues vary widely based on how the crime itself is handled, how the victim is seen by society and culture, and what sort of support is available.

Mental Effects
Rape victims may experience intense and sometimes unpredictable emotions, both immediately after the attack, and in the weeks and months following it. Victims are often severely traumatized by the assault for the first few weeks and months following the incident. It is also not uncommon for the victim to experience strong memories of the attack, or have nightmares.

The victim may suffer from psychological upheaval, including the development of near-phobias. Many victims will avoid being alone for long periods of time, and some experience permanent personality changes. At the same time, the victim may feel feelings of shame and reject attempts to reach them, or shun the company of others.

The victim may have difficulty concentrating, sleeping, eating, and normally functioning. He or she may feel jumpy or on edge. The victim may also experience severe, highly disruptive symptoms that make it incredibly difficult to function in first few months following the assault. These problems may disrupt the victim's daily life and prevent them from seeking assistance or telling friends and family members, resulting in Acute Stress Disorder (ASD). Symptoms of this are:

 * feeling numb and detached, like being in a daze or a dream, or feeling that the world is strange and unreal
 * difficulty remembering important parts of the assault
 * reliving the assault through repeated thoughts, memories, or nightmares
 * avoidance of things (places, thoughts, feelings) that remind the victim of the assault
 * anxiety or increased arousal (difficulty sleeping, concentrating, etc.)

It is important for all victims of rape to seek help and possibly counselling. There are people who can help with the emotional side effects of an attack, and to help reduce the possibility of symptoms associated with rape manifesting, or, if they have done so, from becoming permanent fixtures.

Physical Effects
In the short term, rape may cause physical trauma in the form of:
 * 1) Physical strikes and violence that accompany the attack.
 * 2) Damage to genitals, particularly to the vaginal area, vulva, or possibly anal passage depending on specifics.

In the longer term, rape may lead to the transmission of an STD, or even to pregnancy. It is important for all rape victims to visit a hospital to test for STD and pregnancy. During such a hospital visit, doctors may take DNA samples and photographic documentation, that might help to catch and convict the attacker.

Rape and Interpersonal Relationships
Rape victims may have problems dealing with the enormity of the damage done to them, mentally and physically, and this can spill over into their relationships with others. Rape victims often experience feelings of shame and self-disgust, anxiety, depression, or melancholy, which can disrupt even close friendships. Most people do not know how to handle the rape victim, especially in cases that result in severe personality changes.

In romantic relationships, there are further issues to consider. It is usually difficult for victims of rape to operate sexually in a normal manner, especially within the first 6 to 8 months of the incident. Many victims can have difficulties with sexual intimacy or even close romantic physical contact for a long period of time after the actual assault has occurred. In date rape situations this is of particular note, since many victims who are date raped tend to avoid situations where this can happen again, to the point of avoiding relationships altogether.

Reactions in existing relationships after a rape are so varied that any exact descriptions would be speculation. However, some victims can no longer deal with sexual activity of any kind after a rape, which puts stresses and can dissolve relationships and marriages.

Get Help/Support
It is important for people who have been victims of rape to get help. This includes, but is not limited to:
 * Medical help, including STD and pregnancy tests.
 * Psychological help, such as counselling.
 * Help and support from friends and family. Rape is deeply embarrassing for the victim, but secrecy is likely to be psychologically the most damaging strategy.

Many victims choose not to get help, and some even choose not to talk about the rape to anybody. This is a mistake, and could lead to severe mental and physical health problems in the future. All victims of rape should get the appropriate help, and help is almost always freely available.

Here are some resources to turn to if you or somebody you know has been the victim of rape:
 * Rape Victim Advocates
 * Rape, Abuse, Incest National Network (RAINN)

There are many other resources available, including many local organizations in different communities.

title: Sexual Health/Rape


text:
Statistics/Data Analysis

Data analysis is one of the more important stages in our research. Without performing exploratory analyses of our data, we set ourselves up for mistakes and loss of time.

Generally speaking, our goal here is to be able to "visualize" the data and get a sense of their values. We plot histograms and compute summary statistics to observe the trends and the distribution of our data.

title: Statistics/Data Analysis


text:
MATLAB Programming/Advanced Topics/Applications and Examples/Controls

Introduction
I think that is is important to note here how concepts are implemented. Control systems in MATlab will use both the numeric methods and programming methods to achieve the design criteria. This article is not meant to teach the theory of controls.

See also: Control Systems


text:
Sexual Health/Sexuality

Sexual health is vital to human society, as we have to produce healthy children if society is to survive. Human sexuality is a complicated topic that affects everybody. Most societies impose strict rules about who may do what with whom, because those rules have helped those societies survive. These rules are not universal, but they are almost always very strongly enforced either by public authorities, or informally through social ridicule or castigation.

Most people experience strong periods of sexual desire, or engage in sexual fantasies at some points in their lives. Because most societies prohibit or inhibit any exploration or discussion of sexual topics, many people also worry whether or not their particular fantasies or desires are "normal". As long as your objective is to give pleasure to your real or imagined partner, your fantasies are perfectly healthy and mature. If your objective is to cause pain or harm to yourself or others in order to provoke a pleasant feeling in yourself, there might be a serious problem that you should discuss with a professional psychologist or medical doctor. However, if both partners are willing and wanting, you may be part of the completely healthy and normal "BDSM" subculture. (BDSM stands for Bondage and Discipline, Sadism and Masochism.)

Masturbation
Masturbation is the action of a person manually stimulating their own genitals to achieve orgasm. Masturbation is a completely normal activity, and most people do it, at least occasionally. Masturbation does not carry any of the risk associated with sex: there is no way to become pregnant from masturbation, and there is no risk of contracting an STD from masturbation, except in the case of mutual masturbation (performed with other people).

For very young males, 'inadvertent' masturbation can occur when writhing about on the belly, playing with things such as toy cars, or building blocks on the ground. Older boys may use their hands. There is some risk of causing some minor distortion to the erect penis if the penis is held tightly in the fist, rather than being caressed gently with thumb, middle finger and index finger, but the shape of the shaft is purely cosmetic and most unlikely to have any functional effect (see Peyronie's disease). Very young females often stimulate themselves by rhythmical rocking, and later may find certain sports, especially cycling and horse riding, to be socially acceptable and attractive activities. Reliable data is almost impossible to obtain, but it seems girls are far less likely to discover manual masturbation techniques, which seem to be almost universal in boys by about the time of puberty.

Contrary to popular myth, masturbation does not cause deafness or blindness, nor provoke 'weak mindedness' or other disabilities.

Sexual Fantasy
Sexual fantasy, or the act of fantasizing about specific sexual acts, or acts with specific partners, is a normal practice that many people engage in. Sexual fantasy can occur in dreams at night, or can take the form of daydreams.

Sexuality
Sexuality is very much imposed upon us according to our sex. Boys are traditionally given masculine toy guns and either allowed or encouraged to fight, whilst girls are given feminine baby dolls and encouraged to cook and clean. This sexual and gender polarization helped society to survive in primitive times. Homosexuality among males (gays) has always been highly regulated, even in early Greek society, where it was sometimes encouraged or mandated between a boy and his mentor. Queers (males engaging in anal sex, known as sodomy with females or buggery with other males) have frequently been punished by death.

Since the middle of the 20th century, homosexuality has been decriminalized in many western societies, but there is still much social castigation of any sexual activity not intended to produce children. Most people are somewhat bisexual and sexually attracted to both males and females in different proportions or in different situations. However, any human society depends on the production of children, and so tend to produce rules to promote stable and supportive families. It is considered important, by some, for young people to nurture their heterosexuality and suppress their homosexual desires. Many strongly homosexual people do contract marriage and engage in heterosexual relationships whilst privately fantasizing their secret, homosexual desires. In such cases, psychological counseling may be helpful.

Sexual Partners
Sexual partners can come from many different venues. It is generally considered ideal for sexual partners to also be romantic partners, or "lovers" who are in a stable social relationship in which they wish to conceive children. However, sexual partners can also be "casual partners", with whom there is no lasting romantic relationship after the act of sex is over. Since sexual activity has strong physical and emotional consequences for many people, a quick fling often has serious and unexpected side effects, particularly when performed by those in a romantic relationship of whom sexual faithfulness or trust is expected. Sexual partners may be male or female, but the types of sex that you can engage in is highly dependent on the gender of your partner. People that are mostly attracted to their own gender are said to be "homosexual". People that are mostly attracted to the opposite gender are said to be "heterosexual". Religious, moral, political, and many other factors, may be involved in the process of selecting a sexual partner.

Sex Toys

Sex Toys are inanimate objects that are used to stimulate the genitals or other sensitive regions to facilitate reaching orgasm. Sex toys may be used alone (during masturbation), or with a partner. Some of the most common sex toys are dildos and vibrators, which are penis-shaped objects (usually metal, silicone, or plastic) that can be inserted into the vagina or the anus, or attached to a penis. There are many other types of sex toys in existence, however, and it is not possible to list or describe all of them.

Note: Sex toys should always be well cleaned, and they should not be shared. Sex toys can transmit STDs from one partner to another. Silicone sex toys are often recommended by manufacturers as they are non-porous, and can be submerged in boiling water for proper sterilization. Non-silicone plastic sex toys should not be shared, or if they are shared, should be used with a barrier of sorts placed between the toy and the user of the toy.

Cleaning for Boys
Males should clean their genitals by first withdrawing any foreskin (if uncircumcised) to fully expose the glans and applying gentle (toilet) soap with water and then rinsing thoroughly. The penis, testicles, and perineum (the area between the testicles and the anus) and the anus itself all should be cleaned regularly. Any flesh ordinarily protected by the foreskin is more sensitive to certain chemicals, such as soap, than other parts of the body; some sources advise using water only to clean it. A waxy substance known as smegma builds up under the foreskin. While smegma helps protect the skin by keeping it moist and assisting in lubrication, excessive build-up may provide a medium for bacterial infection. The area under the foreskin should be dried completely after cleaning, to prevent moisture from attracting germs and mildew. Shaving of the penis and testicles is not uncommon, but care should be taken not to cut yourself in those sensitive areas.

Cleaning for Girls
The vagina is a self-cleaning organ. Douching (inserting solutions into the vagina) can alter the types of bacteria that are present, change the pH level, and increase the risk of infection. Wearing cotton underwear and loose clothing to promote air circulation can reduce the risk of infection.

The skin in the vulva may be more sensitive to certain chemicals, such as soap, than other parts of the body. While the vulva may be cleaned with just water, or with water and soap (as long as none is inserted into the vagina), this type of cleaning is not normally necessary.

After urination, women should always wipe beginning near the front of the vulva, and move backwards toward the anus. This is to prevent dragging harmful bacteria from the region near the anus into the urethra, where they can travel to the bladder and cause an infection.

Any object inserted into the vagina (such as a diaphragm and hands) should always first be washed with soap and water. It is not uncommon for women to shave or wax their genitals, but again, care should be taken to avoid cuts or scalding.

Virginity
A person who has never had sex is known as a virgin. There are many different definitions of virginity. Some people claim to be virgins as long as they have not had vaginal intercourse, even if they have engaged in oral or anal sex. Some people use the word "virgin" to describe a person who has had no sexual contact (or limited fondling), while others use the word "virgin" to describe someone who has never had sex willingly.

Women may experience some discomfort during the first few times they engage in vaginal intercourse. This can be due to the stretching of the vaginal canal, and possibly through the breaking of the hymen.

People who have had sex, but choose to stop having it sometimes refer to themselves as born-again virgins.

Hymen
Many women are born with a special membrane in their vagina known as a hymen. The hymen blocks part of the vaginal canal, and can be broken during the first time a girl has vaginal intercourse. However, the presence or absence of the hymen is not sufficient to determine whether a woman is a virgin or not. Some women are not born with a hymen, and the hymen may be broken or stretched open by activities such as riding a bicycle, strenuous exercise, or even (occasionally) tampon use.

If a woman has her hymen intact during her first experience with vaginal intercourse, the hymen will be broken by the penetration. Breaking the hymen often causes pain and bleeding. In cultures where the hymen is considered a vital mark of virginity prior to marriage a surgical 'repair' operation may be performed clandestinely.

Specialist Doctors
There are a number of specialized types of doctors that deal with sexuality, pregnancy, and childbirth. Here are some of the most common types:

 * Gynecologist: Gynecologists are doctors who specialize in the female reproductive system. Gynecologists help women find appropriate contraceptives, do pelvic exams and pap smears (to test for cancer or other abnormal conditions of the reproductive organs), and diagnose and treat vaginal infections. Gynecologists also help women who have problems associated with intercourse, such as pain.  While all of these services are also offered by internists and family doctors, gynecologists have more experience with them.
 * Obstetrician: Obstetricians are doctors who who specialize in the female reproductive system, pregnancy, and birth. Gynecologists are usually also obstetricians. This combination is frequently abbreviated as "OB/GYN".
 * Urologist: A urologist is a doctor who specializes in the urinary tracts of men and women, and also the reproductive system of men.
 * Andrologist: An andrologist is a doctor who specializes in the male reproductive system. Andrologists are not as common as urologists or gynecologists.
 * Reproductive Endocrinologist: Reproductive endocrinologists specialize in treating infertility in both men and women.
 * Oncologist: Oncologists specialize in treating cancer. Some common cancers include breast cancer, cervical cancer, prostate cancer, and testicular cancer.

In addition to these specialist doctors, men and women should also regularly have check ups with a family physician or internist (an internist specializes in treatment of adults, while a family physician treats both adults and children). It is important to keep all doctors aware of the medicines you are on, so that they don't accidentally prescribe conflicting medications.

title: Sexual Health/Sexuality


text:
Java Programming/Applets/Event Listeners

An Event Listener, once set to an applet object, waits for some action to be performed on it, be it mouse click, mouse hover, pressing of keys, click of button, etc. The class you are using (e.g., etc.) reports the activity to a class set by the class using it. That method then decides on how to react because of that action, usually with a series of if statements to determine which action it was performed on. will return the name of the object that the event was performed on, while the source is the object passed to the function when the action is performed. Every single time the action is performed, it calls the method.

ActionListener
is an interface that could be implemented in order to determine how a certain event should be handled. When implementing an interface, all methods in that interface should be implemented,  interface has one method to implement named.

The code listing 9.6 shows how to implement :

When you compile and run the above code, the message "Hi!!!" will appear when you click on the button.

MouseListener
Applet mouse listener does not differ from the AWT mouse listener in general. When the mouse is in the applet area, the listener receives notifications about the mouse clicks and drags (if  is registered) and mouse movements (if   is registered). As applets are often small, it is a common practice to let applet itself to implement the mouse listeners.


text:
User talk:209.216.92.232

Hi!

Would you mind terribly if I moved "Botany Introduction Botany" to "Introduction to Botany"? The current title is a bit ungainly. -- SB_Johnny | talk 20:26, 16 August 2006 (UTC)

title: User talk:209.216.92.232


text:
Talk:Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Magic/Venomous Tentacula

Even though there may be versions that somehow spell "venom" as "venem", let's go with the "venom" because in everything I've ever seen, that's how it's spelled. -within focus 21:07, 16 August 2006 (UTC)
 * Done. I'd like to retain the comment about the presence of the misspelling, though, just for the sake of completeness... Chazz 21:15, 16 August 2006 (UTC)


text:
User talk:Jami 7

Jami,

One way to keep in touch with your group is through the use of talk pages. RiRi82 Talk page is a good place to leave messages for RiRi if you have trouble meeting up in the real world. Provophys 21:38, 16 August 2006 (UTC)

Image copyright status
Hi Jami,

Please don't forget to add the copyright status of any images you upload to wikibooks. It can be detrimental to the book later on if the images need to be deleted :).

Image copyright problem with Image:6pathways2.jpg
Thanks for uploading Image:6pathways2.jpg. However, the image may soon be deleted unless we can determine the copyright holder and copyright status. The Wikimedia Foundation is very careful about the images included in Wikibooks because of copyright law (see Wikibooks' Copyright policy).

The copyright holder is usually the creator, the creator's employer, or the last person who was transferred ownership rights. Copyright information on images is signified using copyright templates. The three basic license types on Wikibooks are open content, public domain, and fair use. Find the appropriate template in Image copyright tags and place it on the image page like this:.

Please signify the copyright information on any other images you have uploaded or will upload. Remember that images without this important information or giving false information can be deleted by an administrator. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me, or ask them at the Study help desk. Thank you. SB_Johnny | talk 03:32, 3 September 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for the help, we actually created that picture, and just didn't know what copy right to place with it. We'll try and figure it out, but if it gets deleted i don't think the chapter will miss anything. Thank you again!--Jami_7 04:57, 3 September 2006 (UTC)

title: User talk:Jami 7


text:
User talk:RiRi82

RiRi,

You can keep in touch with your group by writing messages on Jami's Talk page. You could also leave messages on the discussion board for your chapter, but talk pages are good for more personalized messages (but keep in mind it is still available to the public view). Provophys 21:40, 16 August 2006 (UTC)

Images, HTML
Hello RiRi! I fixed your images. Wikibooks doesn't work well with HTML code, so tags like  don't work correctly. To make an image, you should write a link like this:

I also removed some of the other HTML code from the page, and replaced most of it with equivalent Wikicode. For a tutorial on wikicode, see The HELP wikibook. If you have any other questions, don't hesitate to ask!. --Whiteknight (talk) (projects) 01:46, 22 August 2006 (UTC)

Also, if you want to put an image on the right, you can say:

and to put it on the left, you can say:

If you want to put a frame around it, you can say:

And you can put all this together, plus add a description:

Image copyright status
Please don't forget to add the copyright status of any images you upload to wikibooks. It can be detrimental to the book later on if the images need to be deleted :). SB_Johnny  | talk 02:57, 3 September 2006 (UTC)

Image copyright problem with Image:Ms 01.jpg
Thanks for uploading Image:Ms 01.jpg. However, the image may soon be deleted unless we can determine the copyright holder and copyright status. The Wikimedia Foundation is very careful about the images included in Wikibooks because of copyright law (see Wikibooks' Copyright policy).

The copyright holder is usually the creator, the creator's employer, or the last person who was transferred ownership rights. Copyright information on images is signified using copyright templates. The three basic license types on Wikibooks are open content, public domain, and fair use. Find the appropriate template in Image copyright tags and place it on the image page like this:.

Please signify the copyright information on any other images you have uploaded or will upload. Remember that images without this important information or giving false information can be deleted by an administrator. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me, or ask them at the Study help desk. Thank you. SB_Johnny | talk 02:57, 3 September 2006 (UTC)

Image copyright problem with Image:Potsmoker.jpg
Thanks for uploading Image:Potsmoker.jpg. However, the image may soon be deleted unless we can determine the copyright holder and copyright status. The Wikimedia Foundation is very careful about the images included in Wikibooks because of copyright law (see Wikibooks' Copyright policy).

The copyright holder is usually the creator, the creator's employer, or the last person who was transferred ownership rights. Copyright information on images is signified using copyright templates. The three basic license types on Wikibooks are open content, public domain, and fair use. Find the appropriate template in Image copyright tags and place it on the image page like this:.

Please signify the copyright information on any other images you have uploaded or will upload. Remember that images without this important information or giving false information can be deleted by an administrator. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me, or ask them at the Study help desk. Thank you. SB_Johnny | talk 02:58, 3 September 2006 (UTC)

Image copyright problem with Image:The spiral of drug abusr.gif
Thanks for uploading Image:The spiral of drug abusr.gif. However, the image may soon be deleted unless we can determine the copyright holder and copyright status. The Wikimedia Foundation is very careful about the images included in Wikibooks because of copyright law (see Wikibooks' Copyright policy).

The copyright holder is usually the creator, the creator's employer, or the last person who was transferred ownership rights. Copyright information on images is signified using copyright templates. The three basic license types on Wikibooks are open content, public domain, and fair use. Find the appropriate template in Image copyright tags and place it on the image page like this:.

Please signify the copyright information on any other images you have uploaded or will upload. Remember that images without this important information or giving false information can be deleted by an administrator. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me, or ask them at the Study help desk. Thank you. SB_Johnny | talk 03:00, 3 September 2006 (UTC)

Image copyright problem with Image:Methovertime.jpg
Thanks for uploading Image:Methovertime.jpg. However, the image may soon be deleted unless we can determine the copyright holder and copyright status. The Wikimedia Foundation is very careful about the images included in Wikibooks because of copyright law (see Wikibooks' Copyright policy).

The copyright holder is usually the creator, the creator's employer, or the last person who was transferred ownership rights. Copyright information on images is signified using copyright templates. The three basic license types on Wikibooks are open content, public domain, and fair use. Find the appropriate template in Image copyright tags and place it on the image page like this:.

Please signify the copyright information on any other images you have uploaded or will upload. Remember that images without this important information or giving false information can be deleted by an administrator. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me, or ask them at the Study help desk. Thank you. SB_Johnny | talk 03:02, 3 September 2006 (UTC)

Image copyright problem with Image:Poor hygiene.jpeg
Thanks for uploading Image:Poor hygiene.jpeg. However, the image may soon be deleted unless we can determine the copyright holder and copyright status. The Wikimedia Foundation is very careful about the images included in Wikibooks because of copyright law (see Wikibooks' Copyright policy).

The copyright holder is usually the creator, the creator's employer, or the last person who was transferred ownership rights. Copyright information on images is signified using copyright templates. The three basic license types on Wikibooks are open content, public domain, and fair use. Find the appropriate template in Image copyright tags and place it on the image page like this:.

Please signify the copyright information on any other images you have uploaded or will upload. Remember that images without this important information or giving false information can be deleted by an administrator. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me, or ask them at the Study help desk. Thank you. SB_Johnny | talk 03:04, 3 September 2006 (UTC)

More images (No need to keep using the template)
These images also need copyright status:

 * Image:Skin types.jpg
 * Image:Proteins.png
 * Image:Proteins.png
 * Image:Ect2.png
 * Image:Positive feedback.jpg
 * Image:Figure1 neg feedback.gif
 * Image:Negative Feedback.jpg
 * Image:Walter Bradord Cannon.jpg
 * Image:Claude Benard phys.jpg
 * Image:Picture1.blood.jpg

If Image:Picture1 blood.jpg is a screenshot, you should include information about what program it came from. -- SB_Johnny | talk 03:27, 3 September 2006 (UTC)

P.S. What is the "Template"?
Sb johnny this is for you.{RiRi82 03:52, 3 September 2006 (UTC)}

 * Sorry... the "template" is what adds new section to your talk page for each image. I didn't see the point in making your talk page 1,000 lines long :). -- SB_Johnny | talk 10:50, 3 September 2006 (UTC)

 * Hi... just got your message on wikipedia (you're usually better off leaving a message on my talk here, rather than there). What you need to add is one of these tags: Image copyright tags. If you made the image yourself, you can simply add the licence you feel most comfortable with. If you got the image from somewhere else, you need to verify that it is either public domain, or that the copyright permits the image to be duplicated and used here on wikibooks and anywhere else, for any reason, because any wikibook may be printed, distributed and sold by other parties following the rules of the GFDL.

 * While this does make things more complicated for editors like you who are trying to add images that improve the books, it's very important because of copyright laws and wikimedia policies. -- SB_Johnny | talk 11:31, 3 September 2006 (UTC)

Image copyright problem with Image:Black hairy tongue.jpg
Thanks for uploading Image:Black hairy tongue.jpg. However, the image may soon be deleted unless we can determine the copyright holder and copyright status. The Wikimedia Foundation is very careful about the images included in Wikibooks because of copyright law (see Wikibooks' Copyright policy).

The copyright holder is usually the creator, the creator's employer, or the last person who was transferred ownership rights. Copyright information on images is signified using copyright templates. The three basic license types on Wikibooks are open content, public domain, and fair use. Find the appropriate template in Image copyright tags and place it on the image page like this:.

Please signify the copyright information on any other images you have uploaded or will upload. Remember that images without this important information or giving false information can be deleted by an administrator. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me, or ask them at the Study help desk. Thank you. SB_Johnny | talk 11:47, 3 September 2006 (UTC)

title: User talk:RiRi82


text:
Annotations of The Complete Peanuts/1953 to 1954

==1953–1954== Annotations to The Complete Peanuts: 1953 to 1954 by Charles M. Schulz (Fantagraphics Books, 2004. ISBN 1560976144

 * p. 11 (January 25, 1953). Schroeder is playing the Piano Sonata No. 29 in B-flat, op. 106 "Hammerklavier" by Beethoven.  This appears again on p. 110 (September 13, 1953).

 * p. 16 (February 5, 1953). Bela Bartok was one of Hungary's greatest composers.

 * p. 52 (May 1, 1953). Schroeder is singing from the 4th movement of the Symphony No. 9 in d, Op. 125 "Choral" by Beethoven.

 * p. 63 (May 26, 1953). "Doggie in the Window" was Patti Page's #1 hit song in 1953.

 * p. 122 (October 11, 1953). Ben Hogan was a famous professional golf player.  (It is interesting to note that in these pre-1960s strips, Charlie Brown can sometimes be quite self-confident.)

 * p. 130 (October 31, 1953). A contour sheet is a fitted bed sheet.

 * p. 133 (November 5, 1953). Lucy is exercising her rights as guaranteed by the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution. This may be a "topical" reference to "pleading the 5th" at the "McCarthy Hearings", starting in 1950.

 * p. 149 (December 13, 1953). Schroeder is playing the waltz "On the Beautiful Blue Danube" op. 314 by Johann Strauss Jr..

 * p. 207 (April 26, 1954). Schroeder is smiling, and has a candelabra on his piano, as Liberace did in his television show at the time.

 * p. 215 (May 16, 1954). Sam Snead and Ben Hogan were famous professional golfers. "Ike" refers to President Dwight D. Eisenhower, well-known for his love of golf.

 * p. 225 (June 8, 1954). Miss Frances was the host of a popular children's television program.  She invented the approach of talking to her young viewers as if they were in the room with her.

 * p. 232 (June 24, 1954). Stan Musial, Ted Williams, Roy Campanella were popular baseball players of the era.

 * p. 274 (October 2, 1954). After Lucy does some meaningless graffiti, Charlie Brown crosses the t.

 * p. 280 (October 15. 1954). Handballs are quite small: 1⅞ inches (4.8 centimeters) in diameter.

 * p. 281 (October 17, 1954). Outing flannel is particularly soft, having a nap on both sides.


text:
Annotations of The Complete Peanuts/1950 to 1952

==1950–1952== Annotations to The Complete Peanuts: 1950 to 1952 by Charles M. Schulz (Fantagraphics Books, 2004. ISBN 156097589X

 * p. 9 (October 31, 1950). One of the games of marbles involves shooting one marble out of a ring with another.

 * p. 11 (November 7, 1950). Although Peanuts is famous for its complete absence of adults, they were occasionally seen and heard in the earliest years of the strip (see June 3, 1952).

 * p. 24 (December 21, 1950). First appearance of Charlie Brown's famous zig-zag striped shirt. (See p. 278, December 8, 1952, for the "negative" of this shirt.)

 * p. 25 (December 25, 1950). "Through the woods to grandmother's house" is from Lydia Maria Child's 1844 song "Over the River and Through the Woods", which the children also sing at the end of the 1973 television special A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving.

 * p. 30 (January 11, 1951). A filibuster is an attempt to delay the proceedings of a legislature.  Shermy is stalling for time to get his homework done.

 * p. 38 (February 9, 1951). George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Abraham Lincoln were three of America's greatest presidents.  (Along with Theodore Roosevelt, they are the faces on Mount Rushmore.)

 * p. 46 (March 8, 1951). Patty is using a typewriter.

 * p. 49 (March 21, 1951). "Mad dog" refers to a dog with rabies.  Rabid dogs are usually killed by local authorities (c.f. To Kill a Mockingbird).

 * p. 67 (May 23, 1951). "Second childhood" refers to mental impairment as a result of old age.  It was a euphemism for such things as what we now know to be Alzheimer's disease.

 * p. 69 (May 30, 1951). First appearance of Schroeder.

 * p. 71 (June 4, 1951). In the early 20th century, people unhappy with the squalor and crime of big cities went "back to the soil" and became farmers.  It was an attempt to re-connect with nature and enjoy "the simple life." What Charlie Brown was referring to was playing in his sandbox.

 * p. 79 (July 4, 1951). It is generally thought that the convention of a man walking nearest the curb is so that he and not the lady would be splashed by passing carriages or by someone above emptying a chamber pot.

 * p. 84 (July 21, 1951). In the early part of the 20th century, when a young lady went out on a date, she didn't need to bring any money since the man would pay for everything.  But it was recommended that she carry some "mad money", in case the man did something that angered her (made her mad), so she could end the date and have her own money to take a street car or taxi home.

 * p. 91 (August 13, 1951). "Comic magazine" and "comic book" are used interchangeably throughout the early days of the strip, with the former eventually dropping out of use.  (See p. 17, November 29, 1950 for the first use of "comic book".)

 * p. 93 (August 21, 1951). Neptune is the ancient Roman god of the seas.

 * p. 103 (September 24, 1951). This strip marks the beginning of the career of Schroeder as a pianist.  Also, this is the first drawing of what would become one of the most famous Peanuts references: Schroeder on his toy piano.  It is featured in a bronze Statue in Landmark Plaza in downtown Saint Paul, MN, and in a stained glass of the Westminster Presbyterian Church of Buffalo, NY.

 * p. 103 (September 26, 1951). Charlie Brown misunderstood; it's the New York Philharmonic, one of America's finest symphony orchestras.

 * p. 105 (October 2, 1951). Schroeder is playing the slow movement (Grave) from Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 8 op. 13, "Pathetique."

 * p. 108 (October 13, 1951). In a less politically sensitive time (white) children would play "Cowboys and Indians," a game in which they would chase and pretend to shoot each other, with either imaginary guns—a child's index finger being the gun's barrel and the thumb the hammer (See Volume 2's August 7, 1954, p. 250, for Lucy's clever take on this "hand gun") -- or using toy weapons. (See p. 148, February 10, 1952, for a full-scale production of the game.)

 * p. 114 (November 1, 1951). Children in the United States used to ask for money or candy on Halloween.  In the 21st century, it's become almost exclusively candy.

 * p. 124 (December 6, 1951). The proper technique for ice fishing is to cut a hole in the ice—which is what Charlie Brown does six days later in the December 13, 1951 strip, p. 126.

 * p. 125 (December 10, 1951). Someone else has drawn a picture of Charlie Brown on the sidewalk.  He adds the legend "Don't Tread on Me" so that people won't scuff up his picture (scuffing him in effigy).  The phrase "Don't Tread on Me" along with the image of a rattlesnake became popular during the American Revolution and is seen on the Gadsden flag.  It remains a symbol of defiance against oppression.

 * p. 135 (January 12, 1952).  Charlie Brown is "driving" a soapbox car, a car made of wooden boxes, with no motor, that only goes downhill due to gravity.

 * p. 136 (January 13, 1952). Alexander Graham Bell is generally credited with the invention of the telephone.

 * p. 137 (January 15, 1952). The expression "Born on the wrong side of the (railroad) tracks" means to be poor, but Charlie Brown is using it here to mean unlucky.  The snow man was unlucky enough to be born where it's sunny (because it's melted him).

 * p. 137 (January 16, 1952). Prelude in C major from Johann Sebastian Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier (Book 1), BWV846.

 * p. 140 (January 23, 1952). This musical piece is more commonly referred to as Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 29 in B flat major.  This is also the music for March 25 and April 14.  A Hammer-Klavier (in correct German, Hammerklavier) is simply the German word for piano.  Schulz lettered those German words in blackletter script, which was still in use in Germany at the time. (See also p. 206, June 24, 1952, below).

 * p. 144 (February 1, 1952). The large disc they are listening to is a phonograph record, the precursor to a compact disc.

 * p. 146 (February 4, 1952). Albert Payson Terhune was the author of many stories and novels about dogs, most notably Lad, a Dog.

 * p. 148 (February 10, 1952). Charlie Brown is mis-singing Stephen Foster's "Old Folks at Home" (More commonly known by its first line, "Way down upon the Swanee River").   "Old Chisel Home Trail" is the Chisholm Trail, a cattle drive route from Texas to Kansas in the 19th Century.

 * p. 159 (March 7, 1952). Charlie Brown and Snoopy are playing William Tell, the legendary Swiss hero who shot an apple from his son's head with an arrow.

 * p. 160 (March 9, 1952). The joke is that in the three hours they played (a common length of time for a round of golf), they only made it as far as the 1st (of 18) holes.

 * p. 162 (March 13, 1952). Banbury Cross is a real place in England, but Charlie Brown is undoubtedly thinking of the nursery rhyme "Ride a Cock Horse to Banbury Cross."

 * p. 169 (March 30, 1952). The songs Lucy wants to hear are "Three Blind Mice" and "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star."

 * p. 171 (April 3, 1952). Charlie Brown is delivering the traditional whistle of appreciation for feminine beauty (though it usually has two notes: WEEEET-WOOO), and Patty takes offense.  Schroeder, being more musical, delivers a mini-concert to Violet and gets to walk off with her.  It is the melody to "Traumerei" from Schumann's "Scenes from Childhood" for piano.

 * p. 179 (April 21, 1952). "Rubbers" is another term for galoshes.

 * p. 182 (April 29, 1952). Charlie Brown thinks they need him to play the card game bridge, which requires four people. (Six months later, p. 257, October 22, 1952, that is what he's needed for.)

 * p. 194 (May 27, 1952). Snoopy's first words in the strip, as opposed to "Smack Smack" (see p. 2,1 December 11, 1950, 2nd panel) and other animal noises.

 * p. 197 (June 3, 1952). The first time that adults (except for Beethoven) are seen in the strip, even if only on TV. (See Volume 2, pp. 215, 218, and 221 for whole crowds of adults as Lucy plays in a golf tournament.)

 * p. 201 (June 14, 1952). "Sweetmeats" is just another term for confectionery products, including candy.

 * p. 202 (June 15, 1952). Patty is misquoting William Congreve's line from his 1697 play The Mourning Bride: "Musick has Charms to sooth a savage Breast. . ."

 * p. 203 (June 17, 1952). "The Gay Nineties" refers to the economic expansion and rapid wealth gains experienced in parts of America in the 1890s.  Likewise, "The Roaring Twenties" refers to American in the 1920s, a period of rapid social change and economic prosperity that only ended with The Great Depression.

 * p. 205 (June 22, 1952). The violent names and nature of some comic books at the time were epitomized by EC Comics and criticized by Fredric Wertham in his book Seduction of the Innocent.

 * p. 206 (June 24, 1952). "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik" is a famous musical piece by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Jawohl is German for an emphatic "Yes" (similar to "of course" or "you bet").

 * p. 206 (June 25, 1952). Both 33 and 20 are terrible scores for any hole in golf.

 * p. 218 (July 21, 1952). Because he wrote about collies, these are almost certainly Albert Payson Terhune books again (see p. 146 above).

 * p. 225 (August 7, 1952). Schroeder is playing the first movement of Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 14 op. 27 No. 2, "Moonlight."

 * p. 228 (August 15, 1952). A shutout is a game in which one team wins without allowing the opposing team to score at all.  So, yes, their opponents having scored 63 runs, Charlie Brown's team has no chance of shutting them out.

 * p. 231 (August 22, 1952). Lucy is confusing checkers with the card game bridge, where a coup and grand coup are various sophisticated card plays.  Charlie Brown doesn't appear to know the difference either.  But he soon learns to play (See p. 257, below).

 * p. 243 (September 19, 1952). Linus's first appearance (although his name wouldn't be mentioned until September 22). Schulz: "[O]ne day I was doodling on a piece of paper and I drew this little character with some wild hair straggling down from the top of his head and I showed it to a friend of mine... whose name was Linus Maurer. For no reason at all I had written his name under it... [t]hen I thought, why not put this character in the strip and make him Lucy's brother?"

 * p. 246 (September 25, 1952). Vasco Núñez de Balboa was the first European to see the Pacific Ocean from the New World. Daniel Boone was an 18th century American frontiersman and Indian-fighter.

 * p. 248 (October 1, 1952). Perfect pitch (also called absolute pitch) is ability to sing any individual note on command and/or recognize any individual note upon hearing it played.  It is often thought to be a sign of musical genius.  Charlie Brown is confusing it the pitching in baseball. Also the first instance of fourth-wall breakage in Peanuts.

 * p. 264 (November 7, 1952). The strip's first use of "fuss-budget", a term seldom seen outside of Peanuts. It means one who fusses over insignificant matters; a complainer.

 * p. 267 (November 15, 1952). Note the use of "deep focus" on both Lucy and the telephone.  Quite dramatic.  Right out of Citizen Kane, which the strip would refer to frequently in later years.

 * p. 268 (November 16, 1952). The first time Lucy pulls the football away from Charlie Brown.

 * p. 278 (December 9, 1952). Schroeder is playing the Prelude in C major from Book One of J. S. Bach's "Well Tempered Clavier."

 * p. 282 (December 18, 1952). Carnegie Hall is one of the finest American venues for the performance of classical music.  In the 1950s and 60s especially it was considered the height of musical accomplishment to perform there.


text:
Annotations of The Complete Peanuts/1955 to 1956

==1955–1956== Annotations to The Complete Peanuts: 1955 to 1956 by Charles M. Schulz (Fantagraphics Books, 2005. ISBN 1560976470

 * p. 6 (January 11, 1955). A mambo is a very fast piece of dance music.

 * p. 6 (January 12, 1955). A metronome is a device for keeping a regulated beat to assist in the playing of music.

 * p. 7 (January 13, 1955). You break the sound barrier by traveling faster than the speed of sound:  approximately 343 m/s, 1,087 ft/s, 761 mph or 1,235 km/h in air at sea level.  The person generally credited with first doing this is Chuck Yeager on October 14, 1947.

 * p. 10 (January 22, 1955). This may be inspired by the 1940 film, Edison, the Man, which starred Spencer Tracy and told the story of the earlier years of inventor Thomas Edison.

 * p. 16 (February 4, 1955). An egotist is someone self-centered, who thinks they are "the center of the universe."

 * p. 21 (February 15, 1955). In actual farming, "parity" was the ratio of farm income to farm expenditure with 1910-1914 as a base. Farm interests from 1920s to 1960s wanted federal programs to raise their income to parity.

 * p. 33 (March 15, 1955). Lucy is playing with some famous sayings.  "There's a sucker born every minute," (i.e. you can always find someone to con) is attributed to showman P.T. Barnum.  "Two's company, but three's a crowd."  "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again."

 * p. 45 (April 11, 1955). Davy Crockett was a 19th-century American folk hero and frontiersman.  The Walt Disney-produced television show about him launched Crockett mania in the U.S. and England.  The show's theme song, "The Ballad of Davy Crockett" was a number #1 hit record and children starting wearing coonskin caps.

 * p. 48 (April 19, 1955). Charlie Brown is reading a Pogo comic book.

 * p. 57 (May 10, 1955) Buffalo Bill was an army scout and frontiersman who later went into the entertainment business, running his "Wild West" show. Annie Oakley was a female sharpshooter and part of the show.  She was so talented that she is generally considered American's first female superstar.  Although she wasn't actually part of the settling of the West, she dressed in buckskins to play up that image.  It would not be too far a stretch to say that this strip is commentary on the rise of feminism that occurred after World War II.

 * p. 60 (May 16, 1955) Almost all clovers have three leafs. Due to their rarity, a four-leaf clover is considered a good luck charm.

 * p. 66 (June 1, 1955). The first appearance of one of the 1950's hottest fads, the Davy Crockett coonskin cap.(See p. 45, above.) / Sam Snead was a professional golfer famous for his large straw hats.

 * p. 69 (June 6, 1955). The song "The Ballad of Davy Crockett" claims many fantastic things about the man, among them that he killed a bear "when he was only three."

 * p. 69 (June 8, 1955). "The Ballad of Davy Crockett" begins,  "Davy!  Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier . . ."  Modern readers may find it odd that Schulz devoted so many strips to such a trivial phenomenon, but Davy Crockett and coonskin caps really were seemingly everywhere at the time.  (See p. 78, June 28, 1955)

 * p. 70 (June 9, 1955). Minnesota is Chales Schulz' home state.

 * p. 73 (June 17, 1955). A white-collar worker is a professional, someone who's work is supposedly more intellectual than physical.  People in manufacturing are said to be blue collar workers.  The joke is that even Pig Pen's white collar is bound to be dirty.

 * p. 75 (June 21, 1955). "But is it art?" is an age-old question that really has no answer. What makes a drip painting by Jackson Pollock worthy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, but not a similar painting by a chimp?

 * p. 76 (June 25, 1955). Most recreation rooms in suburban homes are in the basement to keep the noise down.

 * p. 79 (July 2, 1955). Willie Mays and Duke Snider were popular baseball players of the 1950s.

 * p. 98 (August 14, 1955). To "clear the table" in the game of pool is to sink all the balls on one turn and thus win the game.

 * p. 99 (August 15, 1955). The umlauts over the o's would actually be pronounced "boo-woo."  According the International Phonetic Alphabet, the correct way to represent "bow wow" is: bau wau.

 * p. 105 (August 30, 1955) Miss Frances was the host of a popular children's television program. She inventing the approach of talking to the her young viewers as if they were in the room with her.

 * p. 117 (September 27, 1955). Charlie Brown is shown as "small."  The expression "to feel small" means to be embarrassed.

 * p. 131 (October 31, 1955). The trick-or-treaters are, in order, Patty, Lucy, Shermy, Violet, Schroeder and Linus.
 * Lucy's hair and shoes are visible on in panel #4, even though she had planned on dressing as a ghost on Oct 29/30.
 * On November 14, Pig-Pen says he was "away" on Hallowe'en, so he is not in this strip.
 * Linus is behind Schroeder in panel #9; even though Charlie Brown admired Davy Crockett earlier, Linus produces a Crockett snowman on December 12.

 * p. 142 (November 26, 1955). Snoopy is imitating Mickey Mouse.

 * p. 147 (No date in strip, but is December 7, 1955). Lucy is reading a variation on the Dick and Jane readers popular at the time.  Schulz is being sarcastic.  Not much really happens in the stories, so they are far from "fascinating."

 * p. 149 (December 11, 1955). The snow man is (who else?) Davy Crockett.

 * p. 156 (December 28, 1955). All fads pass, and so did Davy Crocket mania.  (See p. 187, March 8, 1956, for what became of at least one old coonskin cap.)

 * p. 162 (January 10, 1956). Private first class is the "rank" immediately above Linus' current one. (See p. 159, January 4, 1956)

 * p. 163 ( January 13, 1956). Juvenile delinquency is anti-social and criminal activity by those under the age of 18.  It came into the public eye and interest in the 1950s (see West Side Story).

 * p. 166 (January 19, 1956). To "read between the lines" means to understand the subtext of something—not what is actually said, but rather implied.

 * p. 167 ( January 22, 1956). Charlie Brown is putting sand (or maybe salt, if he's trying to melt it) on the ice to prevent anyone from slipping on it, which is exactly what Snoopy wants to do.

 * p. 171 (January 30, 1956). A "fair weather friend" is one who is your friend during good times ("fair weather"), but abandons you when in times of trouble ("rough weather").

 * p. 178 (February 16, 1956). Rin-Tin-Tin and Lassie were the heroic canine stars of popular television shows and movies.

 * p. 178 (February 18, 1956). Static electricity seems to build up more during winter months.

 * p. 180 (February 20, 1956). Ding Dong School was the television program hosted by Miss Frances.  Howdy Doody was arguably the pre-eminent children's television show of the 1950s.  Lassie was a very popular television program starring a dog.

 * p. 184 (March 3, 1956). Lucy is describing a scene from Peter Pan.  Most likely the book was read to her or she saw the 1954 musical starring Mary Martin on stage, since she was too young to have seen the Disney film version in 1953.

 * p. 190 ( March 15, 1956). "Asia minor" the old term for Southwest Asia which corresponds today to the Asian portion of Turkey.  Lucy has confused the term with  "Toccata and Fugue in D Minor" by Johann Sebastian Bach.

 * p. 208 (April 26, 1956). In the 1950s the government paid farmers not to use their land.  The idea was that this would prevent soil erosion and build up healthier soil when crops were eventually planted.

 * p. 210 ( April 30, 1956). Unlike the previous greens, which were all legitimate shades of the color, the ones in this panel are jokes. Evergreen and wintergreen, are types of plants. Herb Green was a cartoonist, and Graham Greene a novelist.

 * p. 217 (May 18, 1956). Linus has transformed his blanket into an ascot tie, a very sophisticated look in the 1950s, frequently worn by sporty celebrities.

 * p. 226 (June 8, 1956). Stephen Foster was arguably the most popular American composer of the 19th Century.  His works include "Oh! Susanna," "Camptown Races" and "Beautiful Dreamer."

 * p. 232 ( June 22, 1956). Elvis Presley, "the King of Rock and Roll" had just made his first television appearances earlier that year and was a riding a huge crest of popularity.  At age 21, was also, arguably, at the height of his attractiveness.  And, naturally, Schroeder cares not a whit for rock music.

 * p. 233 (June 24, 1956). A dust bowl is an area where, due to drought and/or poor soil management, the soil has lost all nutrients turned to dust, and blown away.

 * p. 244 (July 19, 1956). The automatic dishwasher as we know it wasn't invented until the 1920s.  With the privations imposed by the Great Depression and then World War II, it didn't become a common domestic appliance until the 1950s.  And, so, of course, Violet's great-grandmother, who was probably born in the 1880s or 1890s, didn't have one.

 * p. 247 (July 27, 1956). Usually, one sticks up for the underdog, the person or thing not generally favored.

 * p. 247 (July 28, 1956). The suburban population in North America exploded after World War II. Returning veterans wishing to start a settled life moved en masse to the suburbs.  Between 1950 and 1956 the resident population of all U.S. suburbs increased by 46%.  And, since new suburbs were built from scratch, very few had mature trees. (Though Charlie Brown's kites never seem to have a problem finding large trees to crash into.)

 * p. 249 (July 30, 1956). The titles are all variations on popular books or types of books.  From Rags to Fuss-Budget is a spin on any "Rags to Riches" tale (how someone started out poor but became rich; see the Horatio Alger novels).  The Power of Positive Fussing is from Norman Vincent Peale's The Power of Positive Thinking, one of most popular inspirational books of the 1950s.  Great Fuss-Budgets of Our Time:  the are lots of "of Our Time" books published every year.  I Was a Fuss-Budget for the F.B.I. is a take on I Was a Communist for the FBI, the radio show and, later, film about an undercover agent infiltrating communist organizations in order to disrupt them.  The F.B.I. is the Federal Bureau of Investigation, America's internal criminal investigation organization.  In the 1950s America was particularly interested in hunting domestic communists, something which was carried to the extremes by U.S. senator Joseph McCarthy.

 * p. 253 (August 4, 1956). Dr. (Benjamin) Spock  Was a leading pediatrician.  The main message of his best-selling The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care was for parents to be more affectionate with their children, and to treat them as individuals. (See p. 300, November 26, 1956, below.)

 * p. 271 (September 20, 1956). Compatible color was a television broadcast standard that allowed color broadcasts to appear on black and white televisions without distortions or flickers (but still, of course, in black and white).  Incompatible color was a previous color television standard developed by CBS that would have rendered all existing televisions obsolete.

 * p. 275 (September 30, 1956). Schroeder is playing the Prelude in C major from Book I of J. S. Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier.

 * P. 283 (October 18, 1956). There's no particular reason why Charlie Brown yelled this except that it's dog-related: it's the title of both the novel Lassie Come-Home (1940) and the movie based upon it, Lassie Come Home (1943), and in the well-known long-running TV series Lassie the dog's name gets iconically yelled in the opening.

 * p. 300 (November 26, 1956). Lucy is reading an excerpt that recalls Dr. Benjamin Spock's The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care.


text:
Annotations of The Complete Peanuts/1957 to 1958

==1957–1958== Annotations to The Complete Peanuts: 1957 to 1958 by Charles M. Schulz (Fantagraphics Books, 2005. ISBN 1560976705

 * p. 4 (January 7, 1957) 3rd panel (and subsequent days). Stereo and Hi-Fi equipment were the latest innovations in home audio at the time.

 * p. 6 (January 13, 1957) This is a reference to the nursery rhyme "Three Little Kittens."

 * p. 7 (January 16, 1957). Bastille Day is the French national holiday symbolizing the start of French democracy.

 * p. 20 (February 15, 1957). Hennepin county is in Charles M. Schulz's home state of Minnesota.

 * p. 22 (February 19, 1957). Undoubtedly Lawrence Welk, whose show first aired nationally in 1955. Possibly Schultz referred to Frankie Yankovic.

 * p. 23 (February 21, 1957). Having "both feet on the ground" means having a firm grip on reality. This pun is likely a reference to the fact that the accordion is played while standing, whereas the piano is played while seated and often with a foot on the pedals. (The accordion is also a less widely respected instrument than the piano, explaining Schroeder's disgust at the remark.)

 * p. 23 (February 22, 1957). This is the first reference in Peanuts to the name Joseph Shlabotnik, later to be Charlie Brown's baseball hero.

 * p. 33 (March 17, 1957) 1st panel and following. Charlie Brown is engaged in the ancient game of hoop rolling.  It's exactly what it looks like:  rolling a hoop with a stick.

 * p. 34 (March 20, 1957). Skywriting is when a small airplane, expelling special smoke during flight, flies in certain patterns, creating "writing" readable from the ground.

 * p. 41 (April 6, 1957). A fiscal year is a 12-month period used for calculating annual ("yearly") financial reports in businesses and other organizations.  It covers a full 365 days, but does not begin on January 1 nor end on December 31.

 * p. 47 (April 20, 1957) 4th panel Casey Stengel was the manager of the New York Yankees in the 1950s and led them to many World Series victories.

 * p. 53 (May 4, 1957). Old fashioned roller skates did not have their own uppers.  They were essentially mini skateboards that you attached to your shoes with a set of clamps that you tightened using a skate key.

 * p. 56 (May 10, 1957). Washboards, used to wash clothes, were, of course, hand-operated.

 * p. 58 (May 13, 1957). Calypso music is Caribbean folk music.  It entered the American mainstream in 1956 with  Harry Belafonte's very popular rendition of the "Banana Boat Song", a traditional Jamaican folk tune.

 * p. 62 (May 23, 1957). 33 1/3 and 78 rpm were common speeds for phonograph records. (The implication is that Lucy speaks very quickly indeed!).

 * p. 77 (June 29, 1957). Buttons proclaiming "I Like Ike" were common in 1951-1952.  They proclaimed support for Dwight D. Eisenhower for U.S. president.  He was president from 1953 to 1961, during the time this panel ran.

 * p. 82 (July 9, 1957). Barrel staves are curved, wooden parts that make up a barrel.

 * p. 83 (July 13, 1957). "Slacker" is a term from World War I and World War II describing men who were avoiding the military draft.

 * p. 89 (July 25, 1957). The quotation is from the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam.

 * p. 91 (July 29, 1957). Lucy has confused "phonetic" (word sounds) with "psychic" (having the ability to read minds).

 * p. 98 (August 17, 1957). According to the U.S. Census Bureau 16.1 million men and women served in the U.S. armed forces from Dec. 1, 1941, and Dec. 31, 1946.  So practically every U.S. family has a World War II veteran in it.

 * p. 99 (August 18, 1957). "Geronimo!" is the traditional cry of paratroopers and others as they jump out of planes.  It comes from a film about the Apache leader Geronimo.

 * p. 101 (August 23, 1957). "Thar She Blows!" is the traditional yell of whale hunters when they spot a whale or, more often, a whale spouting water from its blow hole.

 * p. 112 (September 17, 1957). Snoopy is holding his fist in the air like Benito Mussolini, suggesting that Lucy is behaving like the fascist dictator.

 * p. 118 (October 2, 1957). Lucy makes this statement just two days before the launch of Sputnik!

 * p. 139 (November 18, 1957). According to Billboard, the number one song in the United States that week was "Jailhouse Rock" by Elvis Presley. Note: Schulz drew his strip weeks in advance. Even though he didn't know exactly which song would be number one, he knew it would undoubtedly be a rock and roll tune, which Schroeder naturally dislikes.

 * p. 151 (December 16, 1957). The first movement of Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 1, op. 2 No. 1.

 * p. 152 (December 20, 1957). Pat Boone was a popular singer of the time.  His songs were usually sweet love songs, more conventional and "middle of the road" than the raucous rock and roll of Elvis Presley.  Boone had two number one songs in 1957, "Love Letters In the Sand" and "April Love".

 * p. 157 (December 30, 1957). Snoopy's ears are forming a square.  "Square" is a slang term for someone who is old fashioned and not "hip."  Schroeder's love of classical music marks him as definite square.

 * p. 159 (January 5, 1958). Nuclear fallout is radioactive contamination from a nuclear attack.

 * p. 160 (January 8, 1958). Another reading from the gentle and encouraging Dr. Benjamin Spock's revolutionary book, The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care.

 * p. 164 (January 17, 1958). Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter and Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll are both children's books, and so easy reads (though Alice is actually a complex satire, although it is doubtful that Charlie Brown would get the references).

 * p. 164 (January 18, 1958). "Pioneer Days" would be the 1800s when the American Old West was first settled by white men ("pioneers").  That would anywhere from 50 to 150 years before World War II.

 * p. 170 (February 1, 1958). This appears to be a reference to the movie I Was a Teenage Werewolf from 1957.

 * p. 172 (February 4, 1958). Another reference to Sputnik, the first artificial satellite.

 * p. 175 (February 10, 1958). Linus knows that carrying around a blanket makes him look crazy, and crazy people are not drafted into the army.

 * p. 175 (February 11, 1958). Lucy is mis-quoting Karl Marx who said, "Religion is the opium of the people."  Like most people, she has mis-interpreted that saying to mean that religion is a tool used by the bourgeoisie to keep the masses quiet and complacent.

 * p. 181 (February 25, 1958). To be "blackballed" is to forbidden to join an organization.  The Blue Birds were a children's club, part of the Camp Fire Organization (similar to Scouting), and so, theoretically not that picky. (Blue Birds were started in 1913 as an organization for girls.  In 1989 the Blue Bird level became the "Starflight" level serving both boys and girls.)

 * p. 186 (March 9, 1958). The Asian Flu was a strain of influenza that caused a pandemic in 1957-58.

 * p. 188 (March 13, 1958). A strop is a piece of leather used to sharpen an old-fashioned straight razor.  They were also used to spank children with when they misbehaved.  Schroeder's grandfather is arguing for more discipline.  Electric razors don't have strops.

 * p. 190 (March 17, 1958). Jim Hagerty was President Eisenhower's press secretary.  As such, any reporter would love to interview him.

 * p. 196 (March 31, 1958). The quotation is from the chlidren's book Little Black Sambo, which would now be considered racially offensive.

 * p. 199 (April 8, 1958). A parasol can not be hi-fi, but, like the term "high tech", "hi-fi" was bandied about in lots of inappropriate places in attempts to suggest that whatever was being sold was on the cutting edge of science.

 * p. 200 (April 10, 1958). See above.

 * p. 214 (May 13, 1958). Snoopy's first appearance as a vulture.

 * p. 221 (May 30, 1958). The Beat Generation refers to a group of American writers of the 1950s, most notably Jack Kerouac.  But here Charlie Brown is referring to himself as beaten down by life in general.

 * p. 222 (June 1, 1958). "Dear Agnes" is a play on Dear Abby, the advice columnist (or "agony aunt"), whose column began running in 1956.

 * p. 224 (June 6, 1958). A gila monster is a venomous lizard found in the Southwestern United States and Northern Mexico.

 * p. 238 (July 8, 1958). Fugue in C major from Johann Sebastian Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier (Book 1), BWV846.

 * p. 239 (July 12, 1958). Van Cliburn was a well known classical pianist of the late fifties.

 * p. 268 (September 17, 1958). See p. 232, June 23, 1958.  Odd that Schulz recycles an idea not four months after he first uses it.

 * p. 269 (September 19, 1958). "The fastest gun in the west" was a claim made by many an Old West gunslinger.  It literally meant that you were able to draw your gun and shoot faster than any opponent, thus killing them.

 * p. 217 (September 22, 1958). "I don't pretend to be able to give advice."  All that would change with the coming of her psychiatric advice booth (Vol. 5,  p. 37, March 27, 1959).

 * p. 274 (September 29, 1958) Hula hoops!  The only thing more ubiquitous than Davy Crockett in the 1950s was hula hoops. Peanuts is a veritable index to the pop culture of the second half of the 20th century.

 * p. 275 (October 3, 1958). The ticking of a clock supposedly simulates the heartbeat of the mother, which a puppy would have heard in the womb and while snuggled up against the mother after birth, in order to reassure it.

 * p. 289 (November 3, 1958). The underdog is the person or team not expected to win a contest. The word's origin, in ship construction, actually does make its opposite "overdog."

 * p. 289 (November 4, 1958). Beethoven did not belong to a country club, so he never had the chance to become "club champion":  the member of the club who is the best at a particular sport, usually golf or tennis.

 * p. 289 (November 5, 1958). Irving Berlin was a well known American composer and lyricist, author of, among other songs, "God Bless America," "White Christmas," and '"There's No Business Like Show Business."

 * p. 307 (December 16, 1958). Johann is the first name of classical composer (and, along with Mozart, rival of Beethoven's for the title of greatest classical composer) Johann Sebastian Bach.  Note:  there are several Johann Bachs who were composers, including a Johann Ludwig Bach.

 * p. 310 (December 24, 1958). The age of accountability is the age at which a child knows right from wrong and is responsible for his/her own actions.  In the Catholic Church it's 7.