Two inmates sued the state of Alabama, claiming the cramped space in their cell was a cruel and unusual punishment. The state argued that students at Auburn University actually paid to live in even smaller living space in the Magnolia Dorm. The inmates lost the case.

Colleges & Universities, Law & Government /

Auburn University College of Sciences and Mathematics, 1986 College of Veterinary Medicine, 1907 Graduate School, 1872 For most of the early history of Auburn, boarding houses and barracks made up most of the student housing. Even into the 1970s, boarding houses were still available in the community. It wasn’t until the great depression that Auburn […]

Two inmates sued the state of Alabama, claiming the cramped space in their cell was a cruel and unusual punishment. The state argued that students at Auburn University actually paid to live in even smaller living space in the Magnolia Dorm. The inmates lost the case. Read More »

Mount Everest is so inundated with waste, including 26,500 lbs of human excrement, each season that the Nepalese gov’t now requires each climber to pack out 8 kg of waste when descending the mountain (human waste, empty cans/bottles, abandoned tents, etc.).

Travel /

Mount Everest “Everest” redirects here. For other uses, see Everest (disambiguation). Aerial photo from the south, with Mount Everest rising above the ridge connecting Nuptse and Lhotse Mount Everest, known in Nepali as Sagarmatha (सगरमाथा) and in Tibetan as Chomolungma (ཇོ་མོ་གླང་མ), is Earth’s highest mountain above sea level, located in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of

Mount Everest is so inundated with waste, including 26,500 lbs of human excrement, each season that the Nepalese gov’t now requires each climber to pack out 8 kg of waste when descending the mountain (human waste, empty cans/bottles, abandoned tents, etc.). Read More »

MIT has genetically modified trees to glow in the dark in the hopes of creating a literally green source of light for the future.

Business & Industrial, Science /

Engineers create plants that glow Imagine that instead of switching on a lamp when it gets dark, you could read by the light of a glowing plant on your desk. MIT engineers have taken a critical first step toward making that vision a reality. By embedding specialized nanoparticles into the leaves of a watercress plant,

MIT has genetically modified trees to glow in the dark in the hopes of creating a literally green source of light for the future. Read More »

Principal Akbar Cook installed a free fully-stocked laundry room at school because students with dirty clothes were bullied and missing 3-5 days of school per month. Attendance rose 10%.

Sensitive Subjects /

New Jersey high school principal installs laundry room to fight student bullying NEWARK, New Jersey (WABC) — A high school principal in New Jersey is going above and beyond to make sure his students don’t skip school out of fear of being bullied. West Side High School Principal Akbar Cook said some students were being

Principal Akbar Cook installed a free fully-stocked laundry room at school because students with dirty clothes were bullied and missing 3-5 days of school per month. Attendance rose 10%. Read More »

Steve Martin’s wedding came as a surprise to his guests. The roughly 75 star-studded attendees (including the likes of Tom Hanks, Diane Keaton, Eugene Levy, and Carl Reiner) said that he had invited them to his house just for a “party.” To their shock, upon their arrival his wedding began.

Celebrities & Entertainment News, Humor, Marriage, Movies, News, Weddings /

Steve Martin Gets Married at L.A. Home Sporting his Inspector Clouseau mustache, Steve Martin married girlfriend Anne Stringfield at his Los Angeles home on Saturday, says a rep for the funny man. The surprise ceremony, which had not been announced beforehand to the approximately 75 guests in attendance, was presided over by Bob Kerrey, the

Steve Martin’s wedding came as a surprise to his guests. The roughly 75 star-studded attendees (including the likes of Tom Hanks, Diane Keaton, Eugene Levy, and Carl Reiner) said that he had invited them to his house just for a “party.” To their shock, upon their arrival his wedding began. Read More »

It cost $20 million to evict the last four tenants of a Manhattan apartment building to renovate it. The last tenant was so stubborn and savvy that he received $17 million of the money, plus use of a $2 million condo for life.

Real Estate Listings /

Hotel hermit got $17M to make way for 15 Central Park West Enlarge Image In 2004, developers Will and Arthur Zeckendorf bought the famed Mayflower Hotel and several adjacent lots on the Upper West Side for just over $400 million, with the goal of creating the city’s most exclusive residential building — 15 Central Park

It cost $20 million to evict the last four tenants of a Manhattan apartment building to renovate it. The last tenant was so stubborn and savvy that he received $17 million of the money, plus use of a $2 million condo for life. Read More »

Researchers at Harvard and Columbia concluded that Sarcasm promotes Creative Thinking because both the expressers and recipients of sarcasm need to overcome the contradiction between the literal and actual meanings of the sarcastic expressions.

Uncategorized /

Go ahead, be sarcastic Science & Technology Go ahead, be sarcastic “Black Man Given Nation’s Worst Job.” That was how The Onion famously announced Barack Obama’s election as president in 2008. Rather than a feel-good story trumpeting the historic occasion, the satirical publication sarcastically detailed the economic and political mess Obama would inherit (and be

Researchers at Harvard and Columbia concluded that Sarcasm promotes Creative Thinking because both the expressers and recipients of sarcasm need to overcome the contradiction between the literal and actual meanings of the sarcastic expressions. Read More »

Vulcanizing rubber joins all the rubber molecules into one single humongous molecule. In other words, the sole of a sneaker is made up of a single molecule.

Uncategorized /

One Big Happy Molecule Science Sidetrip: < Back | Main menu | PSLC | Next > Then there comes onto the scene a tinkerer named Charles Goodyear. In the winter of 1839 Goodyear was in Massachusetts trying to figure out how to make natural rubber more useful so that he could finally make a living

Vulcanizing rubber joins all the rubber molecules into one single humongous molecule. In other words, the sole of a sneaker is made up of a single molecule. Read More »

Breakfast wasn’t regarded as the most important meal of the day until an aggressive marketing campaign by General Mills in 1944. They would hand out leaflets to grocery store shoppers urging them to eat breakfast, while similar ads would play on the radio.

Breakfast Foods /

Why Cereal Has Such Aggressive Marketing More Stories Before the invention of cereal, breakfast was not as standard or routine as it is now. “The Romans believed it was healthier to eat only one meal a day,” food historian Caroline Yeldham has said. Many Native Americans, Abigail Carroll writes in The Invention of the American

Breakfast wasn’t regarded as the most important meal of the day until an aggressive marketing campaign by General Mills in 1944. They would hand out leaflets to grocery store shoppers urging them to eat breakfast, while similar ads would play on the radio. Read More »

Elephants are a keystone species. They carve pathways through impenetrable under brush shaping entire ecosystems as they create pools in dried river beds and spread seeds as they travel.

Ecology & Environment /

keystone species A keystone species is an organism that helps define an entire ecosystem. Without its keystone species, the ecosystem would be dramatically different or cease to exist altogether. Keystone species have low functional redundancy. This means that if the species were to disappear from the ecosystem, no other species would be able to fill

Elephants are a keystone species. They carve pathways through impenetrable under brush shaping entire ecosystems as they create pools in dried river beds and spread seeds as they travel. Read More »

Terms - Privacy