Nerd News: Rutgers Beclowns Itself

So Condoleezza Rice won't be the Commencement speaker at Rutgers after all because too many people there don't want to hear her.  You know, it's embarrassing that an institution of higher education that supposedly prides itself on the free and open discourse and debate of ideas can do this to the country's first black female Secretary of State and still pat itself on the back for being oh-so-enlightened and progressive.  Rice was the most powerful woman in the US during her time in office.  If she hadn't been in a Republican administration, colleges and universities across the country would have canonized her by now.

New Jersey Court System Going To The Dogs

A German Shepherd just got summoned to jury duty.  Make your own jokes, folks.

Nerd News: Rutgers Professor Is Suspended

And pray tell, WHY?  Because he admitted to the class that he was teaching a subject he knew nothing about and was not qualified to teach.   You might get a wry smile out of the topic of the class: Human Aggression.

Nerds Behaving Badly: Prominent Scholar Banned From Rutgers Campus

What does one make of stuff like this?  It begins with "A dispute involving Robert Trivers, a well-known evolutionary theorist at Rutgers U. at New Brunswick, escalated from claims of fraud to accusations of threatening behavior."

NJ Governor: Don't Worry, Kids

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has a LOT on his plate right now, but he took a moment to send this charming tweet:

If conditions are not safe on Wednesday for Trick or Treating, I will sign an Executive Order rescheduling #Halloween.
— Governor Christie (@GovChristie) October 30, 2012

Elsewhere on Twitter, awesome Newark mayor Cory Booker keeps on being awesome.  By the way, if you're not following Hurricane Sandy coverage in real time on Twitter, you should at least look in.

Newark Mayor Cory Booker Pulls a Gosling: Chivalry Lives ... And Is Hot Again, Thank God

I've noted Booker before and his undeniable flair, but look at this!  He just saved a woman from a burning building!  (Here's even a tweet from him.)  The Internet, of course, went bananas immediately.  Here's a hilarious example:

OK, last I heard, the beneficiary of Booker's heroics hasn't written any self-involved silliness for Gawker, but these are early days, hm?

Here's something more important: there's going to be a Gosling-Booker superhero comic on Tumblr done by some playful artists!  Bookmark http://goslingandbooker.tumblr.com/.  Check out the cover art at the link where one of the artists also mentioned another real-life hero, Captain Sully (of the "Miracle on the Hudson"). On a related note, is the greater New York/Newark area some kind of hotbed for dashing heroes?  

OK, guys of the universe: the bar's just been raised.  Just kidding ... or am I?

Look, I'm just happy that there are people out there who are still willing and able to lend a helping hand when they see a need.  They're real human beings and real heroes.  And that's something all of us can aspire to. 

Awesome: A Day at the Beach in 1910

Via Pseudo-Polymath comes a link to this blog post noting a splendid vintage photo from the Jersey Shore in 1910 and -- even better -- a lovely essay about that photo, with beautiful attention to its many details and to a meditation on life and history.  Carpe diem, gentle reader, and make time for one more day at the beach while it's still summer!

Nerd News: Public School Teachers and Tenure Vs. Performance

Performance should come first, says Cory Booker.  Yes, that Cory Booker, the mayor of Newark, New Jersey.  I'm beginning to love this guy!

Mapping History: New Perspectives on the Battle of Princeton

Via Princeton man Tigerhawk comes this cool link to a report about fresh perspectives of the Battle of Princeton during the American Revolution.  Cool!  Do recall the date of the battle -- January 3, 1777 -- and how it comes fast on the heels of Washington's daring gambit of crossing the Delaware River on Christmas Day 1776 to surprise the Hessians in Trenton.  Here's the map from the new research on Princeton and the Continental Army's victory.  I love me some battle maps.

The Tweeting Hero of Snowpocalypse: Meet Cory Booker, Mayor of Newark

First there was the massive holiday blizzard on the East Coast, and then there was the cleanup (or lack thereof in New York City) and various accusations of wussiness in the City of Brotherly Love.  Amid all the snowy mess and loud repercussions, I gotta hand it to Cory Booker, the mayor of Newark: Kudos, sir. Kudos indeed.  If nothing else, one can't ask for better optics and public relations than that in the Internet age: a young, vigorous mayor shoveling snow like everyone else ... and helping whomever he can while using Twitter to keep in touch with his city residents. (Here's his Twitter page, by the way.)

Snowpocalypse Now: The Video

Check out 20 hours of yesterday's East Coast blizzard condensed into this 38 second long video from New Jersey:

December 2010 Blizzard Timelapse from Michael Black on Vimeo.

For more weather-related East coast Nerdworld hilarity, see this and definitely don't miss Stephen Colbert on "thundersnow" and the Four Snowmen of the Apocalypse.

Thundersnow

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog</a> March to Keep Fear Alive

It's Independents' Day in American Politics (Plus a Rant)

One thing seems clear in current American politics: you alienate independents to your peril. First the GOP did it, and now the Dems are busy apparently trying to alienate independents as quickly as possible. See the political turnarounds in Virginia, New Jersey, and now Massachusetts with Scott Brown. (See this too.)

After all, what do independents seem to want most? Limited government and the protection of individual rights. PREACH IT! Related to this are the ongoing tea party protests and the frustration of the middle class. We do NOT like an ever-increasing tax-sucking intrusive federal juggernaut run by a "let-zem-eat-unpopular-policy" lot of mealy-mouthed, sticky-fingered, statist corruptocrats and ideologues bent on reducing every productive citizen to indentured tax servitude.

Oh, and here's some free MM advice to the unbelievably feckless and ineffective leadership of the RNC and GOP. Pay attention, people! Stop banging on about social agendas. We don't like the left pushing social agendas, so what makes you think we'll like the right doing it too? Get down to brass tacks here: Limited government. Lower taxes. Less government intrusion. More individual freedom. No nanny government. Stop penalizing the productive in order to bail out the failed and failing. Or, to put it most simply, I'll vote for the people who promise to first (a) LEAVE ME (AND MY WALLET) ALONE, and (b) prevent others from messing with my Constitutionally-protected rights and liberties. (And, yes, for me, this encompasses going after terrorists.)

For the record, this nanny-government idea and the nanny-statists' attempt to infantilize everybody. I don't want or like my own biological parents telling me what to do. Why would I want a government doing that? A government with the power to tax (always the power to destroy) and to compel? I mean, seriously, if my mom nags me to change my behavior or do something that I don't want to do, I can just go away or ignore the directive. If the nanny state nags, it can outlaw things and impose fines and resort to all sorts of nastiness. Why would any intelligent, freedom-loving person assent to such a thing? The only reason I can think of is the temptation to suck forever at the government teat, depend on the Mommy State cradle-to-grave, and refuse to take any responsibility for oneself. Pathetic. Give me spirited, self-reliant rugged individualism any day. Maybe the question boils down to, do you want opportunities or guarantees?

Oh, and to be fair, here's some free advice for the Dems in power in DC. Pay attention! The voter revolts do NOT mean that you should push on even harder with your craptastic policy ideas that every single poll reveals to be wildly unpopular with just about EVERYBODY, left, right, and center! Are you really so far into your own echo chamber that you don't realize that you are utterly out of step with THE COUNTRY? Stop trying to cram stuff down our throats as if we were geese being force-fed to make foie gras. (Then again, maybe that's exactly the point, so eventually they can eat our livers -- I mean, bank accounts.)

Oh, and you might want to dial back the overweening aristocratic arrogance, elitist self-absorption, and open contempt for dissenting citizens or, in the words of one of your DC peeps, "evil-mongers." Your Marie Antoinette is showing. Lucky for you, in this country we don't have the guillotine. We do, however, have something even better. They're called elections, and if I'm not mistaken there are a whole boatload of midterm elections coming this very year. Remember, you are in office to serve the citizens, not the other way around. Pelosi, your "most ethical Congress ever" is now the most despised train wreck of a Congress ever. A wise person learns from his own mistakes. A REALLY wise person learns from someone else's mistakes. Only a total moron learns nothing at all from his own mistakes. Wake up and smell the political mortality. In good Greek-tragic fashion, hubris soon practically begs for nemesis to come and squash it like an cockroach.

Now I could go on lambasting politicians left and right, but I have better things to do! MM is going to procrastinate on her latest nerd paper; she's off to the mall and to Borders (to look at books that have nothing to do with her studies!).

The Hessians' Christmas Surprise: Washington Crosses the Delaware in 1776

It was a gutsy move and a major event that is re-enacted every Christmas. Hey, the fight for freedom never takes a holiday!