My university (Case Western Reserve University) has been listed by the organization Campus Pride as one of the top 25 LGBT-friendly universities in the US. [Read more…]

Some of you are having difficulties with the video clips. There could be a whole host of reasons for this but one easy thing to do is to go to the website Qualys. It checks to see if your browser plug-ins are up-to-date and if not directs you to the appropriate site to download the update.

I do this every few months or so.

Baxter the Wonder Dog is not overly fond of playing fetch. He particularly does not like to play it outdoors. But on occasion indoors he will play for about a dozen throws before he gets fed up and wanders off. But sometimes when he gets excited about something he will fling his fetch toy by himself and then pick it up. [Read more…]

Sports writer Martin Manley committed suicide yesterday on his 60th birthday. Unlike most suicides that leave people wondering fruitlessly what caused it, he decided to create an elaborate website that has a long explanation and is prepaid five years in advance. [Read more…]

When you come home from a hard day’s work, do you simply take some ice from the freezer for your drink? You poor sap, that immediately marks you as a real loser, a nobody. If you were anybody at all, you would buy Gläce Luxury Ice from Dean & Deluca and have it shipped to you, because mere ordinary ice would not be good enough to put into your vintage Scotch.

Here is a description of what you get for just $75:

Gläce Luxury Ice is a meticulously designed and differentiated ice brand specifically designed for use in premium drinks and cocktails. The Gläce Mariko Sphere is a perfectly spherical 2.5″ piece with a melting rate of 20-30 minutes. The Gläce G-Cubed, a symmetrical 2.5″ cube has a dilution rate of 20-40 minutes. Gläce Ice pieces are individually carved from a 300lb block to ensure flawless quality and a zero-taste profile, never contaminating the essence of premium liquors and drinks.

You get two packages of five cubes each, which means that each cube costs a mere $7.50 (excluding shipping and handling).

The company warns that this product requires Next Day Shipping to ensure freshness. This is very important because putting stale ice in your premium drink absolutely destroys the flavor.

One might quibble with the ad wording since a melting ‘rate’ would require different units than minutes, but those who would point such things out are clearly not in the league of people who use such ice, and can be ignored.

(Via Rebecca Schoenkopf.)

Starting tomorrow, I am going to an education conference and then visiting my daughter for a couple of days so blogging will be a little spotty for the coming week.

In the case of South African Graham Ansley, when his yacht ran aground, he swam his 9-year old Jack Russell terrier Rosie to safety before returning to get his wife whose safety line had snagged. (Via Gawker.) [Read more…]

Here’s a heartwarming story.

Some burglars broke into an office in San Bernadino that provides services for victims of sexual assault and took away all the computers. The non-profit office has no sign on the door in order to protect the people who seek its help. But the thieves later apparently discovered the nature of the work that the office did, and on the following morning they broke into the same offices again and returned all the stuff along with a handwritten note of apology.

Here’s the video. [Read more…]

About a decade or so ago, there was massive interest in figure skating. It seemed like a lot of TV time was devoted to showing one competition after another. These figure skating competitions left me cold, like any competition where the scoring depends on aesthetic criteria rather than objective measurements. It seemed like harmless fun but could not hold my attention for more than a couple of minutes. I used to joke that for it to really catch on, they should make it into a contact sport where all the contestants would take the ice simultaneously and were allowed to body check each other and the last skater who managed to stay upright would be declared the winner. [Read more…]

Some people who drive expensive cars are so worried about their cars being dinged by the opening of doors of cars parked next to them that they park straddling two spaces. This is a serious violation of parking etiquette that can enrage people. I myself, though not prone to get upset over trivial things, also find myself highly irritated when I see someone do that, even though I know it is small in the great scheme of things. But like most of us, I do nothing except secretly despise such people. [Read more…]