Pillow method is designed to

4. Why does Lee describe the discovery of the Ice Man in the Ötzal Alps as “the most fortuitous of all” (7)? Do you think that description is justified? Why?

5. To what extent do the discoveries Lee describes suggest that the study of archaeology itself is a product of chance? What are the larger implications of that in terms of addressing archaeology as a science?

Classroom Activity Using Thesis

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A good thesis is an arguable statement that presents an answer to a question. So, sometimes the best way to construct a thesis is to start first by constructing a question. Constructing the question can lead you to an answer, or perhaps several different possible answers that you will need to consider. Which answer you choose will depend on your own opinion about the matter and what evidence you have to support your statement.

Develop a list of five questions on the subject of “censorship on the Internet.” To get you started, here is one possible question: “Should anyone be able to put any information or photographs online even if it could be considered untrue or fake?”

1. ___________________________________________________.

2. ___________________________________________________.

3. ___________________________________________________.

4. ___________________________________________________.

5. ___________________________________________________.

Now develop a preliminary thesis statement by answering one of your questions.

Suggested Writing Assignments

1. Lee points out that the objects Daugherty found are now in “a museum created by the Makah Tribal Council” (6). However, in many other circumstances, archaeologists, adventurers, and looters have taken ancient artifacts from sites and kept them for themselves or sold them to collectors or museums. Today, some countries are trying to get such objects returned, but the countries that have them claim that they have preserved the artifacts better than the original countries could and that they are available to a wider audience. Consider your own experiences of encountering objects in museums. Do you agree or disagree with the argument that artifacts should be returned to their original countries or displayed where they are most accessible to more people? Why? Write a thesis statement and main points and develop them into an outline and/or an essay.

2. Lee points out that the Ice Man was discovered not by professional archaeologists but by two hikers walking in the Alps on a sunny day. How would you react if you discovered an ancient corpse while you were out for a walk? Write an essay about what level of responsibility you would feel about reporting your discovery and how it might affect you emotionally.

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3. Lee writes about three specific instances in which weather created the conditions ripe for archaeological discoveries. Research current archeological investigations. Find a particular “dig” or area where archaeological research is currently being done. Investigate the obstacles that the researchers face. Are the obstacles financial? Political? Environmental? Something else? After doing some research on the issues, construct an essay with a strong thesis statement arguing whether such research is worthwhile.

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The End of Passwords

David Pogue

David Pogue, born in 1963 in Shaker Heights, Ohio, graduated from Yale with a distinction in music; he has also been

awarded an honorary doctorate in music by the Shenandoah Conservatory in Virginia. He is a tech critic for Yahoo

Finance, a monthly columnist for Scientific American, and a host for science shows on PBS’s Nova. He has over three

million books in print, on topics ranging from technology to classical music; and he is also the winner of three Emmy

awards, two Webby awards, and a Loeb award for journalism. Pogue has gained a reputation as a consumer advocate for

his writing in the New York Times, where he especially focused on technology products such as cell phones and e-readers.

In this article, which appeared in Scientific American in 2016, Pogue addresses an issue all users of technology —

virtually all of us — face: the use of passwords. He argues that a truly effective passwords are at odds with how most

people use them. As you read, pay attention to the evidence Pogue uses to support his thesis and suggest that new

technology promises better, more efficient, and more dependable protection in the future.

Reflecting on What You Know

What is your approach to the use of passwords? Do you use simple, easy-to-remember passwords? Do you use multiple

passwords for different websites and devices? Do you change your passwords regularly? How do you keep track of your

passwords?

Our tech lives are full of pain points, but at least the world’s tech geniuses seem committed to solving them. Today who complains about the things that bugged us a decade ago, such as heavy laptops, slow cellular Internet, the inability to do e-mail in planes?

It was only a matter of time before those geniuses started tackling one of the longest- running pain points in history: passwords. We’re supposed to create a long, complex, unguessable password—capital and lowercase letters, numbers and symbols, with a few Arabic letters thrown in if possible. For each site. Don’t reuse a password. Oh, and change them all every month.

Sorry, security experts. Not possible. Not for an average person, not even for you.

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Nobody has that kind of memory.

To make matters worse, passwords aren’t even especially secure. See any recent headline about stolen passwords or about some company’s servers being hacked.

It’s time to kill the password.

Surely, in the 50 years since we started typing passwords, somebody must have invented a better security system. The answer: yes and no. Apps such as 1Password and Dashlane memorize and enter long, complicated passwords for you. But most of them cost money, they don’t work on every Web account and the nontechie public doesn’t know they exist.

There’s also two-factor authentication, which makes you type a password and a code texted to your phone to log in. It’s an unbelievable hassle. The masses will never go for it.

Finally, biometric4 approaches can be both secure and easy because they recognize us, not memorized strings of text. Here there’s hope. Fingerprint readers on smartphones, tablets and laptops are becoming common, cheap, convenient, and essentially impossible to hack on a large scale. So far they’re primarily useful for logging us into our machines.