Elite 8 Re-seedings based on Academics

Bard College (38)

From the Sports Desk of Ribbie’s Weblog, here are the Elite 8 matchups re-seeded based on US News and World Reports rankings of national universities:

Florida (63) v. Dayton (112)

Arizona (119) v. Wisconsin (41)

Michigan State (73) v. UConn (57)

Michigan (28) v. Kentucky (119)

Of these national universities, Dayton is the only private institution.  With an acceptance rate of 36%, Michigan is technically the most elite of the Elite 8; Arizona, at 76%, the least.

 

Swarming Homeless Honeybees Hunt Hives and Higher Education

A  swarm of homeless bees attacked a Volvo station wagon as a horrified family of three looked on helplessly from the comfort of the cabin.  One theory for the attack (mine) is that the safe and roomy Volvo provides the perfect home for a swarm of upwardly mobile bees, SUMBs for short.  I imagine this ambitious family of honeybees have their sites on college in upstate New York and may very well have noticed the Bard College sticker on the back glass of the car.  I suspect that these are the same progressive swarm of bees that have taken to the streets to protest the lack of environmental regulations that have given rise to climate change.  These bees, though not aggressive by nature, do intimidate by swarming science deniers and plan to disrupt the GOP convention this summer.  Actually, Bard College is the perfect school for them – progressive with a campus full of smokers, which would help calm the bees at night.  And Bard has a wonderful new science facility where the bees might lend their expertise on pollination, hive making and honey production.  Should Bard move to admit bees, I would think they would soon follow with a Bee Keeping major.

Another Frank Gehry masterpiece

Gas Prices, NPR and Steely Dan

The thing is:

Gas prices would be a non issue if America weren’t so dependent on fossil fuels.

I love NPR, but they made a series of management mistakes from their handling of the Juan Williams situation to their hiring of the loose cannon Ron Schiller, as chief fundraiser who unwisely met with two men posing as members of a Muslim organization.  Schiller launched an unprofessional tirade against the Republican Party and the Tea Party movement in an effort to secure a large donation from the group. Meanwhile, the men had been secretly taping Schiller and in fact were not Muslims but rather conservative activists organized by the infamous prankster James O’Keefe.  Schiller later apologized and said that he didn’t believe the things he had said, which did not help matters.  Both he and NPR’s CEO Vivian Schiller, no relation, have since stepped down.

I wonder if James O’Keefe is related to Georgia? His brand of politically motivated royal scamming seems to be an accepted form of hard ball today.Let’s see, first it was the attack on Acorn, then Planned Parenthood, followed by a counter punch on the left to Governor Walker.  Walker took a call from a man posing as a billionaire Republican donor.  Walker basically admitted to a coordinated plan to destroy the unions, and his comments went viral.   And now NPR.  I’d say the right is not in the right, but winning the merry prankster battle.

The original Royal Scam was a Steely Dan composition. “Steely Dan was here for real” was carved into a table in a classroom at Bard College.  I know, I saw it and so did my youngest daughter. And the thing is, Steely Dan really did go to Bard; Chevy Chase too.