The game ball goes to Duke

Congrats to the men’s football team, who won their season opener against James Madison yesterday. Perhaps it was because they stole Clemson’s mojo: the players all rubbed a rock from the “Duke stone” quarry as they entered the stadium. Or perhaps it was because UNC decided to be neighborly: parachutists accidentally delivered the game ball from the UNC opener to Wallace Wade.

BBQ ‘em if you’ve got ‘em…

Today is Memorial Day, where we honor our military casualties by not working and (hopefully) barbecuing. For every Memorial Day weekend that I can remember my grandmother has traveled to her family’s old stomping grounds in Indiana to place flowers on the graves of all of her deceased family members, military or not.

For many of us, the day is more leisurely, and so I thought it would be worthwhile to recommend Chronotron — a time-themed distraction that I have found to be quite enjoyable. In the game you use a time machine to create multiple instances of yourself in order to solve a puzzle.

Duke Graduation Redux

I’m finally back from my trip around the country. I can share the photos from graduation, although many of them are blurry. I’m more loathe to share the photos from Las Vegas…

Dr. Delegate

I’ve told most of you about my friend and colleague Paul Richardson, who was elected as a delegate from South Carolina to the Democratic National Convention this year. His blog is now live, so we can follow his journey to Denver.

Football in April

The blog has been quiet lately… too quiet.

It’s understandable. There are exams to be graded, weddings to be planned, and research papers to be written. I just realized I have seven different papers in various stages of completion (six of them are thankfully nearly done). I’ve been pretty stressed and the EPA is about the nicest, lowest stress research environment I can imagine. All the same, it’s time for distraction. Thus, I present the April football round-up:

First off, offensive lineman Justin Boren — whose right to do as he saw fit I defended not long ago — has indeed decided to transfer from Michigan to “the” Ohio State to play with his brother. I wish him well, but if he’s playing offensive line for this year’s match-up, I think we may see the OSU quarterback sacked a dozen times. A cocaine-fueled Jeff Smoker (who to his great credit has recovered) took that many sacks and still won the second-most-recent “Greatest Michigan-Michigan state game ever”

State of Fear

It probably didn’t make national news, but there was a fatal shooting near campus yesterday. A flash email was sent out as I sat in my office preparing lecture notes, advising everyone to stay where they were as the shooter had not been caught. Details were scarce in the beginning, but it turned out that it had nothing to do with the school (no students or employees were involved). Still, for precautionary (and legal, I’m sure) purposes, classes were cancelled all day today. For me, that aspect of it was a minor inconvenience to my class.

But it brought up a bigger debate that happened to be the lead story on CNN at the time: should students be allowed to carry guns to class? Should teachers? What are the limits to security in schools? I’m sure the timing of the story is intimately linked to tomorrow’s anniversary of the Virginia Tech disaster.

Michigan vs. Notre Dame On Ice!

No, Brian Boitano won’t be playing Rudy, and there will be no Winged Helmettes skating in a conga line, but there may be some Charlie Weis-esque octopi spinning on the ice when Michigan and Notre Dame play in the semi-finals of the Frozen Four tonight. This is Notre Dame’s first Frozen Four and Michigan’s twenty-third. Michigan has beaten Notre Dame twice this season, but one of the games was a 3-2 squeaker. Personally I’m just hoping that Michigan can find a way to sack Jimmy Clausen a few more times…

Michigan’s Robotic War Bat vs. Georgia Tech’s Cyborg Moths

In an article that is somehow evocative of a certain movie franchise (whose bloggers unfortunately met a grisly, Cloverfield-esque end late last February), the University of Michigan has received $10 million from the army for a “Center for Objective Microelectronics and Biomimetic Advanced Technology, or COM-BAT.” The robotic bat produced by this group apparently will have a “gargoyle mode” that involves perching on a building and lurking. Since there already is a Michigan Gargoyle, I suggest changing the name to “hunter-killer” mode (good luck with James Cameron’s lawyers). Even worse (or better!), another article in The Register speculates that the RADAR of the Michigan war bat would allow it to easily destroy Georgia Tech’s “cyborg infiltrator machines [that wear] living creatures like fleshy cloaks.” Apparently Prof. Robert Michelson’s group plans to scoop out the entrails of moths and replace them with remote-controls and sensors.

Also in the article, The Register describes DARPA as “the Pentagon asylum for usefully-insane scientists” which can’t be entirely true since our own Andy (who is still pretty sane despite his defense coming up this Friday) was partly funded by DARPA.

Doctors, Lawyers, and Captains of Industry

As described by the Detroit News, when legendary Michigan football coach Bo Schembechler (80% winning percentage) took over a struggling Michigan team in the late 1960’s, the more difficult practices and harsher coaching style drove 20-30 players to leave the team. For Michigan fans it is well known that he had a sign made reading “Those Who Stay Will Be Champions” and that he pretty much honored that claim by winning at least a share of 13 Big Ten titles in 21 seasons. What isn’t reported often is that one of the departing players added to the first sign: “And those who leave will be doctors, lawyers and captains of industry.” I think that’s an important part of the story.

The Importance of Rebounds

The struggling Big Ten Network may need to consider giving Kevin Borseth, the Michigan women’s basketball coach, his own show. After Michigan blew an 18 point lead against Wisconsin, Borseth melted down in the post-game press conference. By the end he’s actually coming to terms with things, but in this case getting there is far more than half the fun. Assuming he can keep up this intensity the Big Ten Network could have quite the show on their hands…

ESPN has a nice piece arguing that this clip shouldn’t define Borseth, but it’s still a must watch.