Explosives found at UC Davis.

Upon waking up this morning, I was greeted by the news that some Freshman had been caught with explosives at my school.

Apparently Mark Woods, a 19-year-old from Southern California, had two pipe bombs and a supply of several explosives-making chemicals in his dorm room. He resided in Tercero, the Freshman dorm, which was quickly evacuated when the guy was arrested.

No similar incident has happened at any other UC, at least not in recent years. When we Aggies say we want to be #1, this isn’t exactly what we have in mind.

A short article on the subject can be found from the AP.

Students Unite!

Are you a student? Do you live in California? Do you support change in American politics?

http://www.casfbo.org/

Windows Vista is selling Macs.

Yes, it’s true. I’ve spoken to several people at UC Davis who actually bought a Mac running Leopard instead of being stuck with a PC pre-loaded with Vista. Good call.

To celebrate, here’s one of Apple’s newest ads, cashing in on Vista’s inferiority. Enjoy.

Disease promotion in higher education.

Here’s something mildly amusing for you: the newspaper of the UC Davis Aggies is theCalifornia Aggie, and today, the headline on its website read “Generation Sex Week kicks off, promotes AIDS awareness.”

On the printed page, however, it seems an important bit was chopped off to save space:

Generation Sex Week kicks off, promotes AIDS

That’s good. AIDS needs supporters. Pandemics are so passé.

Six men spewing testament.

As I walked to my first class this morning, I was approached by a man wielding a small green book.

Oh God. Gideons.

He asked me politely if I wanted the New Testament. I told him “sure, thank you,” and continued on my way. It wasn’t until later that I realized the immense (and probably purposeful) irony of Christians handing out scriptures on Halloween. How wholly amusing.

No harm, no foul, though. One man giving me a free book is certainly not something to complain about. I went on to my class in peace.

When I emerged from the lecture hall, however, there was yet another man holding out a small green book. He pointed it at me. “Would you take a New Testament from me?” he asked. I was tempted. Maybe I could’ve started a collection. I politely told him no, and continued through the crowd.

Human Language Ability: Intrinsic or Acquired?

By Chris, Crispy Quips Administrator http://crispyquips.wordpress.com

Note: this is a paper I wrote for a Linguistics course at UC Davis. It is presented here in its entirety.

Human Language Ability:

Intrinsic or Acquired?

Christopher Graham

University of California, Davis

INTRODUCTION

There exists an amazing amount of debate concerning how humans acquire language. Indeed, all humans seem to have the ability to use language. It has been said that “the faculty mediating human communication appears remarkably different from that of other living creatures” (Hauser, Chomsky, & Fitch, 2002, p. 2), and yet, at some level, we are ourselves examples of what we see around us: naturally-occurring creatures. It is true that other animals may indeed communicate, but animal languages “lack the rich expressive and open-minded power of human language” (Hauser et al., 2002, 
p. 3).

This begs the question: how is it that humans have developed such a unique system of language? Or, perhaps more importantly, how is it that humans acquire that language? Is language learned, or is there some innate evolutionary structure that dictates its development?

UC Davis: Diamonds and Fuel Cells a match made in heaven.

Alright. Cubic Zirconia are not real diamonds. But for most, their close enough.

Current fuel cell designs run extremely hot, at temperatures of up to 1000 degrees celsius, making them cumbersome and somewhat unstable.

A new design, invented at UC Davis, may mean that fuel cells could run much cooler (only about 100 degrees celsius), thereby making them more practical.

Davis, CA? When can I go back?

Early Saturday morning [04.07.07] Katie and I got up early. Very early, in fact. Especially for a Saturday.

At 6:50 am we left El Dorado Hills, CA, on Hwy 50, then 80, and finally arrived at 7:25 am in beautiful Davis, CA, home of cows, fields, and Aggies.

I wasn’t sure what to expect, really. First of all, I was nervous, because on this day (UC Davis “Welcome” day) I thought that I would have to go it alone. When I got there, however, I discovered Katie could come along too, instead of galavanting around Davis until I got done with my campus tours. So that made things a whole lot easier. Love you, Katie.

Anyway, second of all, as soon as I walked onto the campus, my jaw dropped.

I was stunned. UC Davis is gorgeous. Dare I say it is the most beautiful institution of any kind that I have ever seen in my entire life. It’s clean. It’s well designed. It feels nice and open, not confined at all. And- of course– it’s big. 5200 acres, in fact. Larger than any other UC in the entire system. UC Berkley, UCLA, UCSF… ain’t got nothin’ on Davis

It’s also the highest rated academically of any other college in the UC system. In fact, in terms of public institutions, it’s rated at number 16 nation-wide. No, not California-wide. Nation-wide. Its course catalog is amazingly comprehensive, covering everything from agriculture to genetics and back again. It has five HUGE libraries. Wireless internet EVERYWHERE. It’s got its own radio station… and gym… and Starbucks… and… and… and… oh, ya, I just missed the “Whose Line is it Anyway” guys at its Freeborn complex. And Dave Chapelle was there a few months back.

Feel like getting closer to the Bay? No problem- it’s just 45 minutes from San Francisco. Don’t want to drive? UC Davis has a shuttle twice a day that will take you back and forth to UC Berkley. The cost to students? Just $6. And don’t forget Unitrans, UC Davis’ own city-wide bus system. It’s FREE. To students, anyway.

The bookstore? Target-sized. TV’s and everything. $200 off on Apple Computers. Nice.

It’s also the State of California’s research arm. I can’t wait to start doing some undergraduate research in my field.

Oh, yeah, and forget not the bikes. 40,000 of them. It’s the third largest conglomeration of bicycles in the WORLD, behind Beijing and… some other city. And I’ll definitely be riding mine around campus. 5200 acres. It would hurt my feet.

I just applied at the Davis Enterprise, the local newspaper over there. If I get it, it’s only three blocks from campus. Again- a bike ride away.

Wish me luck.

PS: be sure to check out the Linguistics department website by clicking the image below:

[posted with ecto]