Substance

"There is no short cut to achievement. Life requires thorough preparation - veneer isn't worth anything."
George Washington Carver

Apple Tree

Interesting: "In Latin, malus means both evil and apple tree."  This explains the compound malate's origins, and it might just stem from a certain episode in the Bible!  (This is a from a Top-Ten list at www.Merriam-Webster.com).

The End of an Era

*Sigh*

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, May 25, 2010 at 2:44 PM
Subject: Removal of VCRs and DVD/VCR combo units from ITS Classrooms
To: Classtech <classtech@ad.uiuc.edu>

Dear Instructors,

As previously announced, VCRs and DVD/VCR combo units are being removed from classrooms beginning on May 26, 2010. The project will be completed by the beginning of Summer Session 2 on June 14, 2010.  VCRs and DVD/VCR combos will be replaced with stand alone DVD players.

All of the major manufacturers have ended production of stand-alone VCRs.  Soon manufacturers will end production of VCR/DVD combo units as well.  As the devices fail, repairs and replacement will not be possible.

We realize that many instructors still have important instructional video content on VHS tape. Several colleges and departments offer conversion services, often for free, so please check with your particular support unit.  If you have content that is under copyright, you can contact the Information Processing & Management unit of the Library (http://www.library.uiuc.edu/ipm/). They can assist faculty and instructors in researching and acquiring content that is currently available in new formats. CITES Digital Media Group also offers a video tape to DVD transfer service for video that you have permission to copy. Please contact the CITES Help Desk 244-7000 or consult@illinois.edu for more information.

Please note that all ITS classrooms have audio/video inputs that allow users to connect their own VCRs into the system.  If you would like to sign up to have one of the removed VCRs transferred to your inventory or need assistance connecting your own VCR to the system, please contact us. If you have any questions, please call our office at 333-8165 or contact us by e-mail at classtech@illinois.edu.

Cordially,

 ________

Kvetching

A kvetch in time saves nine.

A Great Purifying Fire

Rich Lowry over at National Review has a great article on Rand Paul.  He notes that: "A great purifying fire is sweeping the land. It's taking out the aged and long-serving (67, 76, and 80 are the ages of Senate and House incumbents who lost primaries during the past two weeks), the unprincipled (Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, Gov. Charlie Crist of Florida, and perhaps Sen. Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas), the ethically challenged (Rep. Alan Mollohan), and the inoffensive but blandly conventional (Sen. Bob Bennett of Utah and Grayson)." (Read the full article here).

Pools and Paper

Need:
(today) -- 2 column pools
(later) -- 1 gel-based selection pool

--
Hannah Ihms
Graduate Student, Chemistry
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
hihms2@illinois.edu
So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

A Threat?

#1) I found this response to the OBO-sponsored conservative "coming-out" day in 2005.  I think it's hilarious that the event was seen as a threat -- and to women?!  This would definitely be something to do again this fall. 

#2) I think it'd also be fun to ask the administration to consider a cultural house for blondes.  After all, we're underrepresented at the university, and have sustained a long history of merciless stereotypes.  (Yes, I jest).

Feedback to the University

(I submitted this through the University's survey website)

I recommend that the University reconsider its application guidelines for the Summer Research Opportunities Program (SROP) (www.grad.uiuc.edu/srop).  I love the fact that our University is reaching out to underrepresented minorities, but I think that programs such as this one should invite all students to apply.  When students are profiled based on race -- whether for positive or negative reasons -- it limits our ability as a campus to get beyond racism.  I share Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream that one day skin color will no longer play a part in how any of us are perceived or treated.  Thank you very much for considering my feedback.

file

--
Hannah Ihms
Graduate Student, Chemistry
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
hihms2@illinois.edu
So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

God Upholds Israel

"But you, O Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, you descendants of Abraham my friend, I took you from the ends of the earth, from its farthest corners I called you. I said, 'You are my servant'; I have chosen you and have not rejected you. So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand."All who rage against you will surely be ashamed and disgraced; those who oppose you will be as nothing and perish. Though you search for your enemies, you will not find them. Those who wage war against you will be as nothing at all. For I am the Lord, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you. Do not be afraid, O worm Jacob, O little Israel, for I myself will help you," declares the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. "See, I will make you into a threshing sledge, new and sharp, with many teeth. You will thresh the mountains and crush them, and reduce the hills to chaff. You will winnow them, the wind will pick them up, and a gale will blow them away. But you will rejoice in the Lord and glory in the Holy One of Israel.
"The poor and needy search for water, but there is none; their tongues are parched with thirst. But I the Lord will answer them; I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them. I will make rivers flow on barren heights, and springs within the valleys. I will turn the desert into pools of water, and the parched ground into springs. I will put in the desert the cedar and the acacia, the myrtle and the olive. I will set pines in the wasteland, the fir and the cypress together, so that people may see and know, may consider and understand, that the hand of the Lord has done this, that the Holy One of Israel has created it...  (Isaiah 41:8-20)

Then they came for me

THEY CAME FIRST for the SUV-drivers,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't an SUV-driver.

THEN THEY CAME for the smokers,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a smoker.

THEN THEY CAME for the McD-eaters,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a McD-eater.

THEN THEY CAME for me
and by that time no one was left to speak up.