miscellaneous

Escape the Mundane Tomorrow

If you wish to escape the mundane (Earthly) problems that usually are reported in this blog, consider the following tomorrow night: The full Moon has a reputation for trouble. It raises high tides, it makes dogs howl, it wakes you up in the middle of the night with beams of moonlight stealing through drapes. If a moonbeam wakes you up on the night of May 5th, 2012, you might want to get out of bed and take a look.  This May’s full Moon is a “super Moon,” as much as 14% bigger and 30% brighter than other full Moons of…

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UC History: April 30, July 2, whatever, whenever

“Today” in the tweet on the right was actually yesterday. The Morrill Act of 1862 was also known as the Land Grant College Act. It was a major boost to higher education in America. The grant was originally set up to establish institutions in each state that would educate people in agriculture, home economics, mechanical arts, and other professions that were practical at the time. The land-grant act was introduced by a congressman from Vermont named Justin Smith Morrill. He envisioned the financing of agricultural and mechanical education. He wanted to assure that education would be available to those in…

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Women in Higher Ed in California

The Orange County Register produced some charts about women in California from a recent report by Mt. Saint Mary’s College.  Included is the higher ed info above and below. The full article is at: http://www.ocregister.com/articles/girls-349532-california-women.html The report on which it is based is at: http://www.msmc.la.edu/PDFFiles/status-of-women/RSWG-2012-Final-high.pdf Note: Women comprise 54% of undergraduate enrollment at UCLA and 47%  of doctoral enrollment as of Fall 2011.  See: http://www.aim.ucla.edu/enrollment/enrollment_demographics_fall.asp

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No laughing matter

A kind of performance art project has arrived at UCLA (in front of Royce Hall) and other venues around LA which involves putting colorful pianos around for anyone who cares to play.A web page for the Royce location is athttp://streetpianos.com/la2012/pianos/royce-hall/ Additional info is athttp://www.streetpianos.com/about

Before laughing, maybe we should poll our students on this matter

(Note: The film is currently playing in Westwood in a 3D version.) ‘Just found out Titanic really happened!’ The tweeters who thought world’s most famous shipwreck was just a film By Daily Mail Reporter PUBLISHED: 21:03 EST, 14 April 2012 | UPDATED: 05:29 EST, 15 April 2012 As the world commemorates the centenary of the Titanic’s sinking, thousands of people have taken to the internet to discuss the historic anniversary.  But the event has evidently proven more educational for some than others.  A number of tweeters have used the micro-blogging site to confess that they were unaware that the Titanic was a real ship. The ill-informed…

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UCLA History: Warren

In 1970, former U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice visited the UCLA campus to take part in a ceremony marking the 25th anniversary of the Institute of Industrial Relations (IIR).  As governor of California, Warren had signed a law creating the IIR at the Berkeley and UCLA campuses in 1945.  Shown above are U.S Secretary of Labor James Hodgson, Prof. Lloyd Ulman of the UC-Berkeley IIR, Warren, and UCLA IIR director Prof. Benjamin Aaron.  The IIR is now called the Institute for Research on Labor and Employment.  Other photos from the event are shown below.