the daily exchange | May 2008

Athens Exchange Is Giving Away Two Tickets To Control At Cine - Do You Want Them?

Anton Corbijn's feature length film Control will open at local Athens art house theater Cine this Friday (January 11) and run until next Thursday (January 17). The event is a trilateral collaboration between Buddies Helping Buddies (Gordon Lamb & Mike Turner), Cine and Wuxtry Records.

Buddies Helping Buddies has a pair of passes available for Athens Exchange to give away for any screening on Tuesday, January 15. Showtimes are 4:15, 7:15 and 9:45 PM.

All you have to do to get the tickets is answer the following trivia question:

In 1976 the members of Joy Division and several other to-be-formed groups witnessed a galvanizing performance by The Sex Pistols in Manchester, England. Where was this gig held?

E-mail your answer to athensbuddies@gmail.com no later than 5 PM Monday, January 15. Put "Athens Exchange/Joy Division" in the subject line and the first response that correctly answers will get the tickets.

You can read the Athens Exchange review of Control here.

University Health Center Encourages Faculty And Students To Get A Flu Shot

Coughs and sniffles have entered classrooms all over campus just in enough time for exams.
As buildings such as the SLC and dining halls transform into breeding grounds for the flu, the University Health Center encourages faculty and students to get a flu shot.

Influenza, most commonly known as the flu, spreads like wildfire through coughs, sneezes and speaking, said the University Health Center. The flu virus may spread when a person touches a surface that has flu viruses on it - like a door handle or desk - and then touches his or her nose or mouth.

Between 10-20% of people in the U.S. get the flu each year, many of which are students, due to the contagiousness of the flu virus. The Health Center said that a person can spread the flu one day before they feel sick and continue to spread the virus from 3-7 days after symptoms start.

Just passing through the halls, it is hard to ignore the large amount of students who are already showing symptoms. The thought alone is enough to make students miss class.

The flu is a virus that can take up to 1-2 weeks to recover from and students such as Jill Wright, a third year, do not want to risk getting sick during exams. She has already scheduled her flu shot appointment.

“I am sitting in class listening to all of the miserable people who are sick,” Wright said. “I want to make sure that doesn’t happen to me, especially with exams and all of the football games coming up.”

Flu shots are now being offered at the University Health Center for students and faculty by appointed time and are recommended by the medical employees at the center. The cost is $12 for UGA fees paid students and $25 for non-fees paid students. Students must have their student identification.

Bomb Threat Halts Monday Morning SLC Classes

A bomb threat early Monday morning led to the evacuation of the Student Learning Center by UGA Police.

At approximately 8 AM an unidentified witness contacted the SLC security desk about a “credible threat” said SLC Director Florence King. The UGA Police department was contacted at 8:10 and the police and SLC staff had completely evacuated the building by 8:25 AM.

The sidewalks around the SLC were cleared and access to Baxter Street in front of the building was blocked off to non-police vehicles.

The UGA Police Department utilized their bomb detecting canine unit, which searched the entire building, including every room. The university police are the only agency within 60 miles that have the bomb dogs said Chief Jimmy Williamson.

Chief Jimmy Williamson commented that the first obligation was to the safety of the students and no action would be taken until they could check all the facts.

Students and staff were allowed to re-enter the SLC at 10:40 a.m. after the canine unit found no evidence of any explosives.

If you have any information regarding the situation please contact UGA Police at 706-542-2200.

UGA Issues Water Shortage Update

Just the text:

October 15, 2007

TO: UGA Students, Faculty and Staff

FROM: Arnett Mace, Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost
Tim Burgess, Senior Vice President for Finance and Administration

RE: Water Shortage Update

The University of Georgia continues to partner with the Athens community in addressing what has become an historic drought – the worst recorded here in 100 years. Each of us needs to take personal responsibility for conserving water.

The Bear Creek Reservoir, which supplies water to Clarke, Oconee, Jackson and Barrow counties, is at approximately 13.8 feet below full pool. It stabilized over the past week due to a small precipitation event and additional pumping from the Middle Oconee River. Athens has a precipitation deficit of 15.75 inches for the year. October is historically our driest month, so the situation is not expected to improve in the immediate future and stricter water conservation guidelines may be imposed in early to mid-November.

The university already has taken significant steps to reduce water consumption, such as stopping all outdoor watering from the municipal water supply, accelerating the change of bathroom fixtures in residence halls and resident instruction buildings to low-flow devices, aggressively pursuing identification and repair of any water leaks, shutting down campus fountains and banning pressure washing, reducing operation hours on building chillers, and discontinuing washing campus vehicles (except for refuse trucks due to health concerns). University departments should do all they can to reduce water consumption without compromising standards of cleanliness and public health.

The university’s Task Force on Water Resources will issue a written report in mid-November in which it will make recommendations to further reduce water use in the event of increased county-mandated water restrictions, as well as recommendations regarding sustained water conservation efforts and potential methods for increasing the university’s water supply, both now and in the future.

The Task Force fully recognizes, however, the necessity for implementing further water saving practices immediately, and therefore urges everyone to incorporate the following common sense practices into their daily routines at work and at home:

(1) reduce water usage to the maximum extent feasible in work and research-related activities;

(2) limit showers to two to five minutes and use water only for wetting and rinsing;

(3) do not leave water running while brushing teeth, shaving, soaping hands, or washing dishes;

(4) avoid flushing toilets multiple times;

(5) operate washers and other cleaning appliances with full loads only;

(6) turn off all faucets tightly; and

(7) immediately report any leaks to building administrators, Physical Plant at 706-542-7456, UGA Housing at hsgwkodr@uga.edu, and emergencies after hours (such as broken water mains) to University Police at 706-542-0090.

For additional tips, consult the university’s website at www.uga.edu/aboutUGA/water_tips.html.

We should address rumors you may have heard that the ongoing drought will affect the university’s future academic schedule. These are just rumors. While the university is partnering with the city in addressing the crisis and taking extraordinary measures to conserve water, closing of the university or altering the academic schedule is not viewed as a practical solution to the current level of crisis. The water crisis affects much of Georgia, where most of our students live. Many of our students live in off-campus apartments or housing in the Athens community. It appears that shutting the university would shift the water-usage load, but would not greatly decrease the total amount of water used, while resulting in some very significant academic and economic negatives. If the crisis deepens to an even more extraordinary level, then it might be time for such a discussion. But it is our hope and expectation that conservation measures such as those outlined above will enable us to get through this crisis without such a major disruption.

It is the duty of each member of the university community to become educated about the severity of the situation and consciously conservative in water use. Remember, every drop counts!

British Teenager Responsible For 40% Increase in Town's Crime

This remarkable hooligan has managed a statistically significant crime wave in Clitheroe, Lancashire (Google Map). Clitheroe is apparently the sort of town that proves an island as small as England can have a middle of nowhere.

Kyle Ivison, purveyor of doom, has been apprehended and appropriately sentenced for his transgressions. Locals were delighted by the unexpected turn of events:

One local shopkeeper added: "He's scum and I'm delighted the courts have treated him with a firm hand. God knows, I'd like to."

Oh, we bet you would, you dirty shopkeeper, you.

Please Be Patient - Construction In Progress

We're implementing a new back office for Athens Exchange. It should make it easier for us to publish new articles, sell ads, and manage the site, but the magazine might be a little wonky for the next few days. Thanks for your patience.

Some Important Bananas

A member of our editorial staff stumbled across a fascinating new product, the Banana Guard. The site was one of the convenient suggestions made by Google Adsense based on the text of your Gmail (which the machine always reads). We're trying to avoid the obvious joke here, but they're making it difficult:

The Safe Banana Guard will fit most bananas & give protection during your journey...

Available in 9 great colours - Ravishing Red - Sublime Green - Passionate Purple - Outrageous Orange - Skyhigh Blue - Pretty in Pink - Mellow Yellow - Brilliant Blue - Glow in the Dark

Yes, you can get a glow in the dark Banana Guard.

In honor of this amazing product, we though we'd share with you a couple other important bananas.

Melt Banana is an band from Japan.

Banana Yoshimoto is a Japanese writer of pop fiction.

Tune in later for more banana updates.

Eat Gulf Coast Food Instead of Studying

Sick of studying for midterms? Give yourself a break, put on your flip flops and join the island atmosphere as the award-winning University of Georgia Food Services hosts, "Spirit of the Gulf Coast" dinner Thursday, March 1.

For starters, salad options include the West Indies Salad and the Tomato, Onion, Cucumber Salad. Then, jump into the Cajun atmosphere and enjoy a bowl of the mouth-watering seafood gumbo before you indulge yourself with Deep Fried Frog Legs, Lower Alabama Caviar, Crab Claws and of course, the Raw Oyster Bar. Entrees for the evening include Andouille and Chicken Jambalaya, Baked Mahi Mahi, Veal Grillades served with Baked Grits, and more.

Delicious as the salads, soup, appetizers and entrees may seem, don't forget to save room for dessert. Satisfy your sweet tooth with choices like Camellia Grill's Pecan Pie and Bread Pudding with Whiskey Sauce.

Regardless of whether you are on the meal-plan or not, the food and festivities of the night will certainly be delicious and entertaining. Come to the Coast and enjoy the evening with friends, family and of course, your appetite. Dinner will be served at all University dining commons locations; Bolton, Oglethorpe, Snelling and the Village Summit. No sunscreen required. For meal-plan participants, the event is free and for others, $13.25.

Speaking of past special events, Khalil Ali, a junior political science major from Snellville said, "The food is always incredible. Food Services truly do a remarkable job." And Khalil is never wrong about food.

Wow, That's A Gigantic Hole In The Ground

This news site has some fantastic photos of a giant sinkhole in Guatemala City. Although we can't read anything written on the page because we're American and only speak one language, we've done some poking around to figure out exactly what the giant hole is and what caused it. We're concerned that one will appear immediately beneath our office and swallow us.

One account suggest that plumbing was to blame:

Three people were missing on Friday after a 200-foot-deep (61 meters) hole opened up in the middle of a Guatemalan neighbourhood, likely due to a burst sewer pipe...


Neighbours said the ground had been shaking for weeks after a huge sewer pipe burst, making the ground underneath the houses unstable.

How big does a sewer have to be to open a 130 foot in diameter, 200 foot deep hole in the ground? Really, you won't believe this thing until you see the photos.

Other reports suggest the sinkhole was 330 feet deep. That report is from the Houston Star, so it could just be that things look bigger in Texas. The article does a nice job of making the sinkhole seem Dantescan in scope:

The pit emitted foul odors, loud noises and tremors, shaking the surrounding ground. A rush of water could be heard from its depths, and authorities feared it could widen or others could open up...

Antonio Fuentes, 50, said he plans to abandon the run-down neighborhood he has called home for 15 years.

"Last night, a friend had to take my handicapped wife out on motorcycle," he said. "Now I'm leaving for good, never to come back."

Well, Mr. Fuentes, the Earth opening up and swallowing houses seems to us a fantistic reason to move house, as we've done it over as little as inconsiderate neighbors.

Always useful, Wikipedia has some scientific information:

A sinkhole, also known as a sink, shake hole, swallow hole, swallet, doline (in the Slovene language dolina means valley) or cenote, is a natural depression or hole in the surface topography caused by the removal of soil or bedrock, often both, by water. Sinkholes may vary in size from less than a meter to several hundred meters in diameter and depth, and vary in form from soil-lined bowls to bedrock-edged chasms. They may be formed gradually or suddenly, and are found worldwide.

Apparently, the ruptures sewer pipe is a good theory. It would release a steady flow of liquid (in this case, raw sewage) that would erode dirt, mineral doposits, and sedimentary rock underneath the city, sorta like when you lick the ice cream out of the sides of an ice cream sandwich, only with sewage and dirt instead of ice cream and rich, chocolatey wafers. It wouldn't actually collapse until a large enough area was eroded that the weight of the earth and buildings on top of it became overwhelming.

Overheard In Athens Gets A New Look

If you've got a second, surf on over to Overheard in Athens and check out their brand spankin' new look. A drastic improvement over the 70's kitchen color scheme of the previous iteration.

And it is still awfully funny. Those crazy kids.

Amazing Origami Gallery

This is not your average tsuru or cute frog. It is hard to believe that these are made from sheets of paper. Since we don't read Japanese, we had to click around to figure out how to navigate, but it was well worth the time.

Dating Should Be Done In Parallel, Not In Serial

We saw this on Boing Boing, but it should be repeated as loudly and to as many people as possible. And it is appropriate to St. Valentine's Day, to boot. Benjamin Pollack, a blogger from NY, was complaining to his tech-adjusted father about his relationship issues:

So a few days ago, I was on the phone, whining to my dad about throwing a Fifth Annual F*** Valentine's Day party and trying to figure out my personal life. My dad listened thoughtfully, and then began explaining to me what I was doing wrong.

The problem, he said, is that I date girls serially.

His father proceeds to explain, in electrical engineering detail, what he meant:

Let's let V be potential difference between dating girls and doing something productive, I be current of love, and R be resistance to current flow. The problem with serial dating is the same as with serial circuits. If resistance starts to increase, you're stuck: because V = IR, and R is increasing, I must decrease to hold the equality. Worse still, because P = IV, you're just not going to have as much power with the increased resistance. Note on the above diagram that current is a lousy 214 mA, and we're only able to get 1.93 "jewels" from our relationships. This is even worse than it seems: because there's only one path - through all relationships - you'll end up spending the majority of your energy on the relationship with the greatest resistance, which is exactly the opposite of what you want to do.

The best part are the diagrams, dating as circuitry schematics generated by Pollack to illustrate his father's advice. After viewing them, you'll feel as if the wool has been pulled from your eyes, a New World revealed. Then you will realize one of two things:

A) It is too simple to be true.

B) It is true, but you lack the skills to put the information into good practice.

And you'll end up buying flowers and chocolate for your high-resistor anyway.

Calling All Map Geeks: The Interstate System Is Cool

For those of you who, like us, have an exxagerated affection for maps, you'll love this: a simplified diagram of the Eisenhower Interstate system. For the especially map-loving, you can order prints, which are limited edition.

What's so interesting about Interstates, you ask? Well, eating guacamole year round because we can move avacados freely around the country, of course.

Charlie Norwood, R.I.P.

U.S Representative Charile Norwood has died of lung cancer. He represented Athens for more than a decade. There is a lot of information about his life on his House website. Our thoughts go out to his family.

2006 Athens Popfest Lineup Announced

Mike Turner of Happy Happy Birthday To Me Records has announced the lineup for the 2006 Athens Popfest. The festival, sponsored in part by Athens Exchange, will be held from August 8 through 12 in downtown Athens. Passes for the shows are available here.

TUESDAY, FREE SHOW, LITTLE KINGS, AUGUST 8th, 2006
1. Gordon Lamb 8:00 PM
2. Fabulous Bird 9:00 PM
3. Vietnam 10:00 PM
4. Russian Spy Camera 11: 00 PM
5. Visitations 12:00 AM
6. Col Knowledge 1:00 AM

WEDNESDAY, LITTLE KINGS, AUGUST 9th, 2006
1. Joe Sidney 3:00 PM
2. the Specific Heats 3:45 PM
3. My parents 4:30 PM
4. Velcro Stars 5:15 PM
5. Gift Machine 7:30 PM
6. Baby Calendar 8:00 PM
7. Flash to Bang Time 8:45 PM
8. the Maybellines 9:30 PM
9. How I Became the Bomb 10:15 PM
10. So Many Dynamos 11:00 PM
11. the Instruments 11:45 PM
12. New Sound of Numbers 12:15 PM
13. Megaband 1:00 AM

THURSDAY, LITTLE KINGS, AUGUST 10th, 2006
1. Dog Paloma 3:00 PM
2. the Besties 3:30 PM
3. Bugs Eat Books 4:15 PM
4. Ocelots 5:00 PM
5. Patience Please 5:45 PM

THURSDAY, 40 WATT CLUB, AUGUST 10th, 2006
6. 8 Track Gorrilla 8:00 PM
7. the Smittens 8:30 PM
8. Cars Can Be Blue 9:15 PM
9. M Coast 10:00 PM
10. Gazetteers 10:45 PM
11. the Love Letter Band 11:30 PM
12. Oh Ok 12:15 AM
13. the MOUNTAIN GOATS 1:00 AM

FRIDAY, LITTLE KINGS, AUGUST 11th, 2006
1. Passerines 3:00 PM
2. the Bicycles 3:45 PM
3. Ryan Anderson 4:15 PM
4. Sol’il 5:00 PM
5. 63 Crayons 5:45 PM

FRIDAY, 40 WATT CLUB, AUGUST 11th, 2006
6. Mouser 8:30 PM
7. Keith John Adams 9:00 PM
8. Casper & the Cookies 9:30 PM
9. Cinemechanica 10:15 PM
10. Poison Control Center 11:15 PM
11. We Vs the Shark 12:00 AM
12. DEERHOOF 1:00 AM

SATURDAY LITTLE KINGS August 12th, 2006
1. Cocker Spaniels 3:00 PM
2. Darren Hanlon 3:30 PM
3. Ponies in the Surf 4:15 PM
4. the Happy Bullets 5:00 PM
5. Telenovela 5:45 PM

SATURDAY 40 WATT CLUB AUGUST 12th, 2006
5. Capstan Shafts 8:00 PM
6. Red Pony Clock 8:30 PM
7. Fishboy 9:15 PM
8. High Water Marks 10:00 PM
9. Ideal Free Distribution 10:45 PM
10. Bunnygrunt 11:30 PM
11. Circulatory System 12:15 AM
12. APPLES IN STEREO 1:00 AM

UN Goes Into Asteroid Deflection Business

Since the planet is pretty much fixed otherwise, the United Nations has turned its ever watchful eye to the task of planning for a collision with a near-Earth object (NEO). From the article:

The UN draft treaty would establish who should be in charge in the event of an asteroid heading towards Earth, who would pay for relief efforts and the policies that should be adopted.

In addition, it would set out possible plans to deflect the object.

Notice that the UN is concerned with power, who gets the bill, and actually solving the problem (in that order, apparently). They do have some nifty ideas, ripped from yesterday's box office records:

Ideas could include hitting the asteroid with a spacecraft or rocket to deflect its orbit.

Other less destructive proposals include a "gravity tug" that would simply hover over the asteroid and use gravity as a "towline" to change its path.

But any decision to deflect an NEO could come with its own set of conundrums for the UN, as changing its path may simply alter its final target.

"It's important to understand when you start to deflect an asteroid that certain countries are going to have accept an increase in risk to their populations in order to take the risk to zero for everyone," said Dr Schweickart.

It is difficult decisions like this that can only be addressed by the UN, the Association of Space Explorers believes.

While the chance that our planet could be smacked by a rock the size of England is genuinely worrisome, setting up an international committee to figure out how to redirect said rock to impact a location of their choosing is actually slightly more worrisome. We prefer the visual of the Hollywood style unlikely-collection-of-misfits-saves-the-world scenario to the hordes-of-UN-bureaucrats-build-gigantic-weapons-platform-over-brunch scenario.

Alan Boyle over at Cosmic Log has a great piece on NASA's efforts to track asteroids. He has the following to say about Apophis, a very special rock:

Apophis has emerged as the "poster child" for the assessment of asteroid collision threats, said Steven Chesley of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Initially, the uncertainties surrounding observations of Apophis' orbital path were so great that experts gave it a 1-in-40 chance of hitting Earth in 2029. Since then, more observations have reduced the risk in 2029 to zero, but that 1-in-45,000 chance remains for a later encounter in 2036.

Chesley said that astronomers have been swarming to make more detailed observations of Apophis over the past couple of months. Those observations - which have not been fully analyzed yet - just might rule out an impact in 2036. "Stay tuned for that," he said.

And stay tuned we will.

Maybe If We Buy Another Record Company, Our Records Will Get Better

Warner Music, the fourth largest record company on the planet, is fixin' to buy EMI, the thirs largest record company on the planet. From the article:

Analysts had speculated that EMI, the world's third largest music company and home to Robbie Williams and Coldplay, could receive a fresh takeover approach after it last week issued its second profit warning in just five weeks.

Warner, the fourth largest music company, has also struggled recently, reporting a 74 percent drop in quarterly profit due to its artists having fewer hits, and any tie-up would give both sides access to more music and the ability to cut costs.

You see, EMI's sales have sucked, so they're going to be purchased by Warner, whose sales also suck. Because two of crap is one of gold. Or something like that.

We'll see more and more of this, as record companies fail to adapt to the changing nature of the music market. It is getting harder and harder to manufacture hit records using the time-honored record company recipe: mix poor person with musical gifts with hugely rich record company with marketing department, assault TV and radio with cash to persuade everyone that the music is good, watch record sales.

Every day, this system works less and less. Radio (the kind with DJs and advertisements) is hemorrhaging listeners faster than newspapers are hemorrhaging readers, people can actually listen to whole records before they buy, MTV doesn't appear to have any music on it anymore. It remains to be seen whether these trends will increase the overall quality of available music, but it will definitely increase listener choice. We think this is a good thing.

Take heart, though, and pay a bit of attention, since we're actually going to get to watch the dinosaurs go extinct, right before our very eyes.

Nuçi's Space Seeks Feedback From Middle and High School Students For Summer Music Camp

From their press release:

February 19, 2007

Nuçi's Space is looking for feedback from middle and high school students and parents about Camp Amped - our upcoming summer music day camp. We've set up an online survey to get your input.

Once we start receiving results from the survey, our planning committee will begin to organize curriculum and classes to be offered. A few of the classes we are considering include instrument and ensemble lessons, songwriting, studio recording, road-teching, promotion, music business overview, writing rap lyrics, spinning/scratching records and building beats.

Our plan is to hire accomplished local musicians as teachers and special guest speakers. In addition to making the camp affordable we hope to offer a few financial scholarships. We will be approaching foundations and charitable citizens to help make this program accessible to young, talented musicians who would otherwise not be able to make this financial commitment. Please return periodically to our website for updates and future details.

Please fill out the survey (it's very short) when you can.

If the above link doesn't work, try cutting and pasting the following link into your browser:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=239713330867

That is all.

Ike Turner Wins A Grammy?

Almost as surprising as the designation of the new Red Hot Chili Peppers album as "rock," it appears that Ike Turner won a Grammy this evening.

What exactly do you have to do to be persona non grata? Build your house out of babies?

On another note, they have Grammy awards for virtually every permutation of musical style you can imagine. A few notables: Polka Album, Tropical Latin Album, Classical Crossover Album, Southern, Country, or Bluegrass Gospel Album, and Hawaiian Music Album.

Hawaii is, after all, a very important state.

It Must be Jack's Fault

It is becoming a meme on the internet that Jack Bauer is currently the most successful argument for torturing suspects in the war on terror. Since it always works on 24, the huge teeming mass of unwashed Americans must think its a good idea as a matter of policy in the real world.

Hate to break it to folks who make their living speculating about the news, but people who get up in the morning and go to regular jobs don't have any trouble differentiating televised fantasy from reality. Leave them to their catharsis, already. They wish it worked like that, which is different from thinking it actually works that way.

Dixie Chicks Bring Political Edge to Grammys? WTF?

What planet are these people living on? The very notion that The Dixie Chicks could bring a political edge to the Grammys, as the headline suggests, is ludicrous and should be resisted by all who think civilization is valuable and worth saving.

We understand that the phrase "I'm embarassed by Dubya" is political in nature, to a degree, but it has roughly the same edginess as "I dislike crime" or "I think elections should be fair." You don't get to be edgy by going to another country and parroting the opinion of everyone else in your industry. You get to be, well, newsworthy-ish

Perhaps the Grammys need something besides music to make them interesting again. Or maybe just some different music? We suggest penguins. Everybody loves penguins.

Interesting Bit About Life After Oil

James Howard Kunstler, author of an excellent book about the serious mistakes we've made in organizing and building American cities called Home From Nowhere, has published an interesting list of ten things we'll have to do when we run out of oil. While we're not so convinced that peak oil is coming soon, there are some things in this list that we might consider for other reasons, including the health of our population, the health of our economy, opportunity for people who have to, you know, work for a living, and national security.

Home From Nowhere, just like this list, is alarmist and very preachy, but the irritants present in his writing style shouldn't make Kunstler any less palatable as food for thought. Even if the world isn't fixin' to end as Kunstler seems to believe, maybe we should think about making our cities walkable, or at least bicycle-able, and we should definitely start manufacturing things in the United States again.

Just in case Kunstler is right, though, we're keeping some studded collars and football player shoulder pads in the office closet to go with our Mohawks when it all goes South.

So We're Nerds And We Love Lego

We came across this fascinating video showing some überdork's fantastic Lego Mindstorms creation. Yes, that is Lego designed to make programmable robots.

While this creation is fantastic (although you have to be a real geek to sit through all 6 minutes 44 seconds of it), we're jealous because we had to imagine that Legos moved. We wonder if we could make Mindstorms operate our coffee maker.

Nuçi's Space Student Organization Holds Second Annual Broken Hearts Benefit

A little birdie tells us that the Nuçi's Space Student Organization is holding their Second Annual Broken Hearts Benefit to benefit the hugely beneficial Nuçi's Space. If you're planning something to celebrate St. Valentine's Day, consider spending it at an event that benefits a worth cause.

Sponsors include the ubiquitous Terrapin Beer Company, and there will be music from Holiday, Misfortune 500, and The Shredders. Doors open at 9:30 and tickets are $5.

The best part is that the event is Friday, February 16, so if you already have plans for V-Day you can still make it.

OK Coffee Is Our New Favorite Place

On our way to campus from the parking deck we've lately made a habit of stopping at OK Coffee, the little depot under the stairs by Wuxtry. There are a lot of reasons to stop - the coffee is better than Starbucks, and is infinitely less expensive, plus you don't have to deal with scripted niceties from the employees. The folks at OK are nice enough, but you get the homey feeling of actual conversation. Plus, you can just order a large coffee, instead of learning the Italian word for "Biggie."

They make waffles, too. We didn't get a waffle, because it seemed like an ordeal to eat while walking, but they sure did smell good.