Have you ever been in a flash mob? Well, let me tell you, it’s a lot of fun. My friend ran for student government last week and her idea to get votes was to organize a flash mob. A bunch of people from my house (like in Harry Potter our college has houses) decided to help her out. We did a flash mob to the song “Party Rock Anthem” by LMFAO to support her campaign:

I’m in a bright pink shirt, with really curly hair, a clashing purple scarf, and a bright orange bandanna off to the right side of the screen. You can see me briefly at the beginning and end of the video.

Moral of the story…FLASH MOBS ARE FUN!!!!!!

College is awesome. Why? Well, where else can you say that you fought off a zombie apocalypse and won?

Every quarter at the University of Chicago a game is played called Humans v. Zombies. It’s basically a super awesome version of tag. Usually about 100 people sign up to play. One of those people is the original zombie. The job of the original zombie is to go around and tag humans turning them into zombies. Humans are equipped with Nerf Guns. With these Nerf Guns, they have the power to shoot a zombie which renders the zombie “out of play” for 15 minutes. Dorm rooms, academic buildings, and dinning halls are safe zones for humans; however, the dorm hallways and the lounge below the dinning hall is fair game. Zombies are identified as people wearing bright orange bandannas on their heads and humans are identified as people wearing bright orange bandannas on their arms. These shennanigans go on for about a week.

What’s so fun about all of that?

Well I’m glad you asked. You see, I didn’t actually play Humans V. Zombies, I was on the side lines. However, as the days of week passed by, the number of zombies multiplies and the humans become more and more paranoid. The humans leave for their classes early and take long routes to get there, they never leave the safety of their room unless it is completely necessary, and they are on the constant look out for zombies. Plus, it’s a lot of fun to watch humans get ambushed by a herd (yes I do mean a herd) of zombies. Just the other day I was walking through the center of our quad when I saw a human who was walking to class. He was constantly looking over his shoulder and was prepared to sprint at a moments notice. However, he didn’t see the group of zombies lurking on the east side of the quad. The zombie rushed the human and ran him down until he became a zombie. When you’re on your way to your math class, this is quite the sight.

The smarter humans who don’t go into the quad are the most paranoid. My friend was playing the game and he was still a human. On Wednesdays you can buy a shake for a dollar down at C-Shop. He comes into my room and asks if I would like to join him. My roommate and I explain the dangers of getting a shake during such a crazy apocalypse, but, let’s face it, a dollar shake is totally worth risking your life for. So, four of us, including my one human friend, walked down to C-Shop. We flanked him on all sides and watched for zombies as the popped out from behind bushes and tried to tag him. It was quite the adrenaline rush.

For us Non-Humans v. Zombies players, there is still a chance to join in on the fun. Once during the week that Humans v. Zombies is played, a Nerf Gun war is held in one of the academic buildings. A group of my zombie friends invited me to go with them and I simply couldn’t resist. One of my friends lent me his Maverick to go and play the game. They set up Harper Memorial Library into a war zone. We played numerous games of capture the flag and it was a lot of fun. However, I think the best thing about playing was seeing the contraptions that people built to play the game. A bunch of people had customized Nerf weapons that were out of this world:

Plus, by going to this Nerf war, I received my own personal Humans v. Zombies bandanna. Clearly the week of Humans v. Zombies is the BEST WEEK EVER!

So, the question now becomes, “Are you ready to survive the next zombie apocalypse?”

http://zombies.uchicago.edu/index.html

Now that I am a freshmen in college I have to take care of myself. It’s a terrifying concept that when I’m sick I can’t just stay home or ask my mommy for a bowl of soup. As I navigated through my first week of college I, like many others at the University of Chicago, got sick. However, I didn’t understand why I got sick. I wash my hands frequently, I attempt to eat healthy, I use hand sanitizer, and I attempt to get an adequate amount of sleep.

Then I took a look around. I am surrounded by a bunch of people who are coughing and sneezing all the time. They don’t cover their mouths when they cough and they don’t cover their noses when they sneeze. Moreover, they NEVER wash their hands. I know that I’m being stereotypical, but this is a known fact. According to a study by the New York Times, only 70% of people wash their hands after going to the bathroom and even less after sneezing, coughing, and such. Talk about gross.

Now, I know what you’re thinking, “Everyone is always surrounded by people who are ‘gross’.” True story. However, in college, you are trapped in tiny little rooms filled with sick and hygiene inept individuals. Worse yet, sometimes you have to live with these people. So, let’s just say that in college we have it a little worse because it’s like we’re in a tiny bacterial filled bubble.

So, what does it take to actually avoid the “back to school illness”? According to numerous sources you have to:

• Practice Good Hand Hygiene - This never happens. As proven above, even if you frequently wash your hands, you are still not free of the germs spread by the other couple of thousand people.
• Don’t Share Food or Utensils - Okay, this sounds good in theory. However, every dining hall (at least at my school) is buffet style. This means that all of those non-hand washers and other germy individuals are near the food you eat and may possibly come in contact with the food you eat. Also, while we like to think that our utensils are clean, we all know that this is just a myth. The utensils go through a brief washing process, but there is often still food and “unknown” nastiness stuck to the utensils and plates.
• Help Your Immune System With A Healthy Diet and Adequate Sleep - Yeah right. We’re college kids, we try to eat healthy and often do, but with an ice cream bar near by it’s hard to resist the call of unhealthy eating habits. Also, if you say “get enough sleep” to a college kid, expect to get laughed at. We don’t sleep. It’s just a thing. We study, we hang out, we go out, but we don’t sleep.
• Stay Home If You Are Sick - Another yeah right. You can’t just stay home when you’re in college. You can’t miss class like that. In high school and middle school it wasn’t a big deal, but when your parents are shoveling out tens of thousands of dollars for you to go to school, your rear is in a seat every day. Also, it is nearly impossible to get medicine at the time of the “break out” of the “back to school sickness”. All of the shops on campus run out of cold meds and you don’t have the time or the funds to go off campus and buy supplies. So, you just run around with nasty cold symptoms all day.

So what’s the moral of this story? If you’re in college, you’re going to get sick. It’s going to happen. However, you can try to avoid this by taking a few preemptive measures.

• Carry Hand Sanitizer With You - You are around sick people all the time, bring some hand sanitizer and you’ll be one step closer to being relatively germ free.
• Bring Cold Meds to College - They will run out of cold meds at the stores on campus, so stock up before you leave so that you’ll have an upper hand in getting rid of any cold that comes your way.
• Eat Good Things - Yeah there is pizza and ice cream, but you should also venture over to the salad bar every now and then to grab something green (leafy green not gummy green). Also, ALWAYS inspect your utensils before using them to avoid grossness.
• Don’t Procrastinate - This helps with the adequate sleep thing. If you do your homework when you are supposed to, then you are likely to have more time to sleep.
• Soak Up Some Vitamin D - Read on the quad or play a game of frisbee. Get out and get some sun and be active. Two great tips to staying healthy.

Combating sickness while on campus is like trying to fight off zombies in a zombie apoclypse. It’s nearly impossible, but it can be done.

Good luck in avoiding your back-to-school-illness.

I feel, as a fellow geek, that we deserve to have anthems just like everyone else. Thank you I Fight Dragons!

Martinez v. Regents of the University of California, was decided today in favor of the University of California in California Supreme court. The issue at hand was brought by parents of US citizens who are non-residents of California (and thus, must pay out-of-state tuition fees at California Universities), who allege that the policy of allowing in-state residents who are not legally in the U.S. to pay the lower in-state tuition rate violates federal immigration policy and is discriminatory to US Citizens who are non-residents.

California law, allows students who attended California high school for a minimum of three years, including undocumented immigrants, to pay the lower tuition rate that California residents pay. Undocumented immigrants receiving the exemption must also promise to actively seek U.S. citizenship.

The California Supreme Court unanimously upheld this California law.

The plaintiff, Martinez, argued that under the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996, Congress prohibits states from granting postsecondary education benefits to unlawful aliens on the basis of state residence, unless the same benefit is given to all U.S. citizens without regard to residence. The plaintiff also claimed the Privileges or Immunities Clause, arguing that California has denigrated U.S. citizenship and placed U.S. citizens in a legally disfavored position compared to that of unlawful aliens.

Ultimately, the case boiled down to simple rules of fact. California law did not treat U.S. students from out-of-state worse than it treated unlawful aliens, because in-state tuition is available to all who qualify.

K12 Education for illegal immigrants costs California approximately $7.7 billion per year according to Breaking the Piggy Bank: How Illegal Immigration is Sending Schools Into the Red. The article says, “Defenders of illegal aliens assert that the cost of educating illegal alien students is offset by the taxes paid by their parents, but study after study shows that immigrants cost taxpayers much more in public services used than they pay into the system via taxes.  This is particularly true of illegal immigrants, who are disproportionately low-skilled and thus low-earning and are much more likely to be working in the underground economy or providing contractual services and not withholding taxes.”

By providing in-state tuition to residents who are not legally in the U.S., this changes the playing field for a demographic that is thought of as a low-skilled burden on society.  A college education can be the catalyst for change that enables this population to become high skilled tax paying citizens in California.

Games That Give^TM are now available on The Animal Rescue Site. Play fun, free, classic gamesand help shelter animals at the same time. The more you play, the more funds you raise for our charity partners to help animals in need.

Check it out: play to help animals!

More than 20 of the most popular “casual” games, all absolutely free, are now available here at The Animal Rescue Site. The more you play*, the more you can help shelter animals!

How does it work?

Games that Give^TM are a simple, free, and fun way to help animals in need by playing some some of the most popular “casual games” of all time. The games contain sponsor advertising, and 70% of that advertising is donated to help shelter animals.

Westminster Youth Advisory Panel and Soldier’s Angels gave us opportunity to send  treats and Thank You messages to our troops.  Our service men and women give up so much for us.  I believe that it’s important that we take every opportunity to give back.    It’s amazing how grateful students are … sometimes we just need an avenue to express our thanks!

In some parts of the world, cats and dogs are raised and brutally skinned for their beautiful fur. The Canadian Government is afraid that a ban on these furs would endanger international sales of Canadian products made of baby seal skins. So it allows imported clothing made of dog and cat fur, and does not even require the fur to be labeled.

Nobody wants fashion at the price of pets’ lives. Tell the Canadian Government to ban imported dog and cat furs. Sign & tell a friend today!

http://www.theanimalrescuesite.com/clickToGive/campaign.faces?siteId=3&campaign=CanadaCatDogFur

As polar bears struggle to survive, collectors in some countries can still buy polar bear skin rugs, claws, skulls, and other parts to decorate their homes.

Canadian officials need to hear from you to understand just how many people care about these struggling bears.Urge Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and conservation officials to support an international ban on the trade of polar bear products.

http://www.theanimalrescuesite.com/clickToGive/campaign.faces?siteId=3&campaign=DOWPolarBear

Global warming is one of the most pressing issues facing our wildlife and our planet. Scientists warn that our rising temperatures could cause 20 - 30 percent of the Earth’s plants and animals to go extinct between now and 2050. But will the Senate take action to save these species?

Lend your voice for action on global warming! Ask Majority Leader Harry Reid to urge the Senate to pass a comprehensive global warming bill, helping polar bears, walruses, and other wildlife struggling to survive in a warming world. Sign the petition below and tell a friend.

http://www.theanimalrescuesite.com/clickToGive/campaign.faces?siteId=3&campaign=GlobalWarming