College president decides to make lemonade out of lemons....make that diet lemonade

When a skinny alumna told Stephens College president Dianne Lynch to lose some weight, the president decided not to get offended. Instead, she took the opportunity to earn some money for her college. Lynch told the alumna that she and her staff would lose weight in exchange for a donation to the university. So they made a bargain. If the 200 employees lose a total of 250 pounds by January 1, the college will receive a $1 million dollar donation. In addition, if Lynch loses 25 pounds, the kitty goes up to $1.1 million. The gutsy alumna is remaining anonymous. So, how overweight is this college president? Here's a picture:

She looks pretty good to me. I wish I looked that good...

Fidel Castro uses the Beloit College Mind List as Evidence that America is Evil

Fidel Castro has a blog.  (That's strange enough for an entry here, but it gets better.)

Castro cites a "study published by Beloit College" as evidence that U.S. and British intelligence agencies have been distorting American children's minds via drugs and propaganda. He bemoans, "It is terrible to think that the intelligence and the feelings of children and youth in the United States could be mutilated in such a way."

Fidel was reading the Beloit College Mindset List, recently featured here. The Mindset List is an annual ritual that gives us a peak into the minds of college freshmen, mostly for the sake of making their professors feel old. For example, this year's college freshmen were born after Czechoslovakia split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia. So the Mindset List says that, for these freshmen, Czechoslovakia never existed.

Fidel (mis)quotes these horrifying facts about American college students from the Mindset List:

• "They believe Czechoslovakia never existed."
• "They believe Beethoven is a dog they saw in a film."
• 
  
  "They think Michael Angelo is a computer virus."
• 
  
  "They think that American companies have always done business in Vietnam."
• 
  
  "They think that Korean cars have always been running in their country."
• 
  
  "They believe that the United States, Canada and Mexico have always been linked to each other by a Free Trade Agreement."

Clearly, this is evidence of a U.S. plot to start a nuclear war. Fidel concludes, "I was stunned to realize to what extent education could be distorted and prostituted in a country with more than 8,000 nuclear weapons and the most powerful means of war in the whole world. To think that there are still people in their right mind capable of believing that my warnings are exaggerated!"

Actual ads on Craig's List

Trampoline for sale - $40
"Kind of rusty and missing a couples of springs, excellent condition."

1966 Lincoln Continental - $3500
"This car is in really good condition... There is a rust issue on the roof... The back window is missing, It was broken when the rust on the back window was being cleaned up... Interior is great...The front passenger seat is in need of repair...The car isn't starting at the moment... The trunk is full of spare parts." Actual image in Craig's list ad:

Bond girl science

Once again, our daring scientists are tackling important problems, like curing cancer, stopping global warming, and studying James Bond films. Some of the latest important findings include these facts about the female characters in James Bond films:

• 88 percent of "major female characters" engaged in some form of sexual activity with James Bond.
• 1 percent attempted to kill Bond before engaging in sexual activity.
• 1 percent attempted to kill Bond during sexual activity.
• 0.5 percent attempted to kill Bond after sexual activity.
• 25 percent were targeted by a weapon.
• 5.6 percent were presumed dead at the end of the film.
• 12.3 percent were definitely dead.
• 55.9 percent were "good" throughout the film.
• 14.4 percent were "bad" throughout the film.
• 8.7 percent were "bad" but turned "good."
• 7 percent were "good" but turned "bad."

It's dangerous to walk in New York

The New York Times says that a report from the New York City transporation planners reveals some counterintuitive findings about the dangers of walking in NYC:

• Despite their bad reputation, taxi cabs, "account­ed for far fewer pedestrian acci­dents in Manhattan than did pri­vate automobiles."
• "Jaywalkers were involved in fewer collisions than their law-abiding counter­parts who waited for the 'walk' sign."
• Male drivers cause 80 percent of accidents that result in a pe­destrian's death or serious in­jury.

Library shelves fall like dominoes

Someone played dominoes with the shelves in the Indiana State University library.

Ah, dominoes. It's always so much fun to watch them fall down, but so much work to set them up again.