What I wanted to know about Back to the Future, is why Calvin was so easily accepted into the school. He never registered or anything, and you think that Strickland would've kicked him out for being a slacker or something.
Responding to complaints from some students, Tufts University wants to bar sexual activity in the presence of another roommate in its dorms.
But some students say it's unenforceable.
The policy - which took effect this semester - reads, "You may not engage in sexual activity while your roommate is present in the room. Any sexual activity within your assigned room should not ever deprive your roommate(s) of privacy, study, or sleep time."
Senior political science major Rick Zeckendorff scoffed at the provision.
"It sounded pretty ridiculous to me the first time that I heard about it," he said. "Because it's unenforceable. People in those situations aren't thinking in terms of the law or school regulations."
But the Office of Residential Life was thinking about the well-being of all students when it adopted the rule, according to university spokeswoman Kim Thurler. She said the office had received about 12 sex-related complaints in the last two years from students.
"It really all comes down to respect and consideration between roommates," she said, adding that to her knowledge, no students have reported infractions so far.
Rebecca Wang, a sophomore majoring in biomedical engineering, felt the rule change was "reasonable" to promote a cordial living arrangement, while conceding that, "it might be unenforceable."
Sean Siebert, a sophomore with the same major, remembered signing a similar contract last year in his residence hall. But he believes the matter is best left to students.
"I think it's more of a personal decision between roommates," he said.
Those are only publically reported complaints. That doesn't factor in the people who watched and thought it was awesome, and the terribly lonely people who listened to their roommates' passion while they silently cried themselves to sleep.
Seriously, at what age are we gonna let these kids start solving their own problems. These are the details you and your roommate work out at the beginning of the year. If you don't want to be present for or walk in during sex, agree on a code sign to leave on the door. If you need to study, go somewhere else, if you need sleep, too bad.
The gas mask bra is one of the winners at the 19th First Annual Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony.
This week the Annals of Improbable Research hosted its 19th First Annual Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony. As CNET News' Elinor Mills wrote, this year was no less ignoble than the previous 18, with such delightful discoveries as applications for panda poo and observations from a lifetime of knuckle cracking.
Except for one award: the gas mask bra, which, while ridiculous and hilarious at face value, has far more going on below the, er, neckline.
Elena Bodnar, who lives in Chicago, got her start as a scientist in Ukraine, when she witnessed the devastating effects of the Chernobyl nuclear plant disaster in 1986. She noticed, among other things, that women were wearing bras that may have been lacy but were certainly not life-saving.
At the ceremony, Bodnar demonstrated her invention, which she said could have prevented people from breathing in Iodine-131 in the wake of Chernobyl. She graciously gave pink bras (each of which can turn into two gas masks) to actual Nobel laureates (yes, even the men, who now have the option to enjoy the bras without shame--not to mention any likely real effect--in the privacy of their own homes).
The bra's patent abstract, which also includes an attempt to make "positionable" a word, somehow manages to be as boring as other patent abstracts:
"A bra garment comprising: a plurality of detachable cup sections, each of the cup sections having: (a) a filter device; (b) a first portion positionable adjacent to a first central area of a user's chest; (c) a second portion positionable adjacent to a second outer area of the user's chest adjacent to an underarm; and (d) a valve device."
And for all the women out there who are worried about whether their cup size is too big or small to turn into effective gas masks: size, according to Bodnar, doesn't matter.
Iran president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is secretly ... Jewish?
Oy vey!
Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad - perhaps the world's best-known Holocaust denier - might actually be Jewish, according to a bombshell report published on Saturday.
Ahmadinejad's family apparently changed its name from Sabourjian, a Jewish name meaning "cloth weaver," when it converted to Islam after his birth, the London's Daily Telegraph says.
The nuke-pursuing Iranian was photographed in March holding up his identity card, revealing a scrawled note suggesting the shocking name change.
The Sabourjians traditionally hail from Ahmadinejad's hometown of Aradan. The name is even on the list of reserved names for Iranian Jews compiled by Iran's Ministry of the Interior, the paper says.
Experts told the Telegraph his vitriolic attacks against Jews could be an attempt to hide his past.
"This aspect of Mr. Ahmadinejad's background explains a lot about him," said Ali Nourizadeh, of the Center for Arab and Iranian Studies. "Every family that converts into a different religion takes a new identity by condemning their old faith.
"By making anti-Israeli statements, he is trying to shed any suspicions about his Jewish connections."
A London-based expert on Iranian Jewry said that the "jian" ending to the Sabour name shows that the family had been practicing Jews.
"He has changed his name for religious reasons, or at least his parents had," said the Iranian-born Jew. "Sabourjian is a well-known Jewish name in Iran."
That's pretty much how the Chinese view Mao Zedong. They credit him for making China what it is today while nicely glossing over the fact that the Cultural Revolution and Great Leap Forward resulted in upwards of almost 50 million people dead (more conservative estimates put it at a little over 20 million, but still).
And he's on almost every single piece of currency.
But in fairness, the cult of Mao has died down a bit. Now criticizing Mao just ostracizes you socially, depending on whom you talk to. 30 years ago that was the fastest way to getting yourself to the receiving end of a firing squad.
Hahahaha, those suckers. They had everyone panicked on CNN for hours this morning, when the whole time he was taking a nap in a cardboard box. I was watching live when they reported that he had been found in the attic of their house; my roommate and I laughed. Wolf was like "Oh, we're so relieved he's okay" but you could tell he was thinking "Are you freaking kidding me?"
In short, a family's building some sort of crazy balloon craft, they claim they're child got inside it and then the balloon's tether broke and lifted off. They found the balloon later and no one was inside, turns out he'd been hiding in the attic for several hours. I'm glad he's alright and all, but I'm interested to see what happens next.
Well, since he wasn't even in the balloon, I don't feel as bad that I was watching the live stream while listening to "Don't Stop Me Now" by Queen. I could not stop laughing.
NEW YORK, Sept 25 (Reuters) - Dalton Chiscolm is unhappy about Bank of America's customer service -- really, really unhappy.
Chiscolm in August sued the largest U.S. bank and its board, demanding that "1,784 billion, trillion dollars" be deposited into his account the next day. He also demanded an additional $200,164,000, court papers show.
Attempts to reach Chiscolm were unsuccessful. A Bank of America spokesman declined to comment.
"Incomprehensible," U.S. District Judge Denny Chin said in a brief order released Thursday in Manhattan federal court.
"He seems to be complaining that he placed a series of calls to the bank in New York and received inconsistent information from a 'Spanish wom[a]n,'" the judge wrote. "He apparently alleges that checks have been rejected because of incomplete routing numbers."
Chin has experience with big numbers. He's the judge who sentenced Bernard Madoff to a 150-year prison sentence for what the government called a $65 billion Ponzi scheme.
Bank of America Corp (BAC.N) faces real legal problems, including New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's threat to sue its chief executive and a judge's embarrassing rejection of a settlement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Yet the money Chiscolm wants could dwarf all the bank's other problems.
It's larger than a sextillion dollars, or a 1 followed by 21 zeros. Chiscolm's request is equivalent 1 followed by 22 digits.
The sum also dwarfs the world's 2008 gross domestic product of $60 trillion, as estimated by the World Bank.
"These are the kind of numbers you deal with only on a cosmic scale," said Sylvain Cappell, New York University's Silver Professor at the Courant Institute for Mathematical Sciences. "If he thinks Bank of America has branches on every planet in the cosmos, then it might start to make some sense."
Judge Chin gave Chiscolm until Oct. 23 to better explain the basis for his claims, or else see his complaint dismissed. (Reporting by Joe Rauch; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)
Probably neither. He's probably trying to make some statement about how if a bank has so much money, then it should be able to cover what he's asking for, a nonexistent amount. That, or he's got absolutely nothing better to do with his life, and can only assume that no matter what happens, he'll still walk away with a lot of money.
"Incomplete routing numbers"? So he's either pissed because he has some checks that were misprinted, or he's a standard moron who doesn't know how to read his routing number.
Comments
The gas mask bra is one of the winners at the 19th First Annual Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony.
And he's on almost every single piece of currency.
But in fairness, the cult of Mao has died down a bit. Now criticizing Mao just ostracizes you socially, depending on whom you talk to. 30 years ago that was the fastest way to getting yourself to the receiving end of a firing squad.
News: So falcon, did you hear your parents calling for you?
Falcon: Yeah
News: So why didn't you answer them?
Falcon: They said it was for T.V.
LOL ratted out on father's hoax. That whole thing was made up for publicity, which I find both sickening and hilarious at the same time.
EDIT: Doing some more google research on this guy, I'll believe it was a hoax. This guy seems desperate to get on tv.
In short, a family's building some sort of crazy balloon craft, they claim they're child got inside it and then the balloon's tether broke and lifted off. They found the balloon later and no one was inside, turns out he'd been hiding in the attic for several hours. I'm glad he's alright and all, but I'm interested to see what happens next.
NEW YORK, Sept 25 (Reuters) - Dalton Chiscolm is unhappy about Bank of America's customer service -- really, really unhappy.
Chiscolm in August sued the largest U.S. bank and its board, demanding that "1,784 billion, trillion dollars" be deposited into his account the next day. He also demanded an additional $200,164,000, court papers show.
Attempts to reach Chiscolm were unsuccessful. A Bank of America spokesman declined to comment.
"Incomprehensible," U.S. District Judge Denny Chin said in a brief order released Thursday in Manhattan federal court.
"He seems to be complaining that he placed a series of calls to the bank in New York and received inconsistent information from a 'Spanish wom[a]n,'" the judge wrote. "He apparently alleges that checks have been rejected because of incomplete routing numbers."
Chin has experience with big numbers. He's the judge who sentenced Bernard Madoff to a 150-year prison sentence for what the government called a $65 billion Ponzi scheme.
Bank of America Corp (BAC.N) faces real legal problems, including New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's threat to sue its chief executive and a judge's embarrassing rejection of a settlement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Yet the money Chiscolm wants could dwarf all the bank's other problems.
It's larger than a sextillion dollars, or a 1 followed by 21 zeros. Chiscolm's request is equivalent 1 followed by 22 digits.
The sum also dwarfs the world's 2008 gross domestic product of $60 trillion, as estimated by the World Bank.
"These are the kind of numbers you deal with only on a cosmic scale," said Sylvain Cappell, New York University's Silver Professor at the Courant Institute for Mathematical Sciences. "If he thinks Bank of America has branches on every planet in the cosmos, then it might start to make some sense."
Judge Chin gave Chiscolm until Oct. 23 to better explain the basis for his claims, or else see his complaint dismissed. (Reporting by Joe Rauch; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)