Mindy: Some possible avenues of thought.

[Yis M Koslowitz]

No: HPFGUIDX 24260

I agree with Marcus. The point of the books is to have you do the work of
suspending your own disbelief. JKR just makes it really, really easy.

Mindy does have one point. I'm not sure about what happens when a
Muggle-born student goes home on vacation. Does Hermione use the Internet
on vacation? Or does she say things like "Sorry, Mom, I'd love to load
the dishwasher but I'm a wizard now, so I can't."
	I mean, in GoF, when Harry, Ron and Hermione were all searching for a
recipe that would enable Harry to breathe underwater, Hermione HAD to be
wishing for a database. And clearly, at the beginning of PoA, Hermione
has just been on holiday in France. Did she get there by broomstick? I'm
assuming she went by plane, since she was concerned about having Harry's
broomstick servicing package opened at Customs. So people living in both
worlds probably do use the amenities of both. 
	More to the point in Mindy's question about social security numbers is,
do people like Dean Thomas or Hermione or Lily Potter go OFF social
security rolls? There's probably a form to fill out (in triplicate) to
change your muggle vs. wizard status.

Which brings up another question - I'd love to know the Gringotts
exchange rate for Muggle and Wizard currency - I wonder whose economy is
stronger?
Robyn