Suddenly I’m remembering what the Irish Law Guide said about Professor Kaveny’s famous pre-exam “pep talks.” Excerpt:

“Your intelligence isn’t on the line. Your ability as a lawyer isn’t on the line. None of that is on the line. It’s just an exam. It has a lot of consequences, yes. … Yes, there are consequences, but none of those consequences are irremediable. … So keep it in some kind of perspective.”

She also said we shouldn’t focus too much on “garnishing” our exam answers with little tiny details. “You’re better off just doing the meat and potatoes. It’s an Irish law school.” Heh.

A USB Christmas tree? Wow! What will they think of next?

Answer: this. “I mean come on, a 532 nm green laser wavelength is obviously superior to a laughable 650 nm red laser wavelength.” Heh.

(Hat tip: Gizmodo.)

P.S. And this!

Everyone’s worst fears have been realized, as Teddy Ebersol, the 14-year-old brother of Notre Dame senior Charlie Ebersol and son of NBC Sports president Dick Ebersol, is now confirmed dead in the Colorado plane crash that also killed the pilot and flight attendant.

May he rest in peace. Condolences to the family. What an awful, awful thing.

Teddy Ebersol with his mom and dad in an April file photo.

UPDATE: According to someone on NDToday.com, “Keough Hall is offering its daily Mass this Tuesday at 10 PM to the Ebersol family. … All are welcome.”

UPDATE 2: More here. Photos here.

Via email from ASU, forwarded to me by the Master herself:

MEMORANDUM

To: Faculty and Students
From: Dr. Chris Smith, Chair of Ms. Rebecca Zak’s committee
Committee members: Dr. Matthew Whitaker & Dr. Georganne Scheiner

RE: Masters Thesis Defense

In accordance with Graduate Council Policy, I am writing to announce, Ms. Rebecca Zak will be defending her Masters Thesis.

TITLE:
Britney Incorporated:
How Marketing and Sex Appeal Made a Cultural Icon

Date: December 9, 2004
Time: 9:00-11:00 A.M.
Location: Coor Hall room: 4403

An abstract is available for review in Coor 4481.  Please see Suzanne Rios, Administrative Assistant, for a copy. Please share this information with colleagues and other students.  Both faculty and students are encouraged to attend.

Woohoo! Go Becky!

Wal-Mart’s Thanksgiving Weekend sales disappoint; the economy shudders. The moral of the story: As Wal-Mart goes, so goes America.

If you support democracy in the Ukraine, raise your paw!

Awww.

We just received our first Christmas card of the year, and it was from the White House! Click here to view the card, and notice the postmark.

My Thanksgiving photo album is now complete, what with 59 newly uploaded pictures from New York City on Saturday, mostly of the Bronx Zoo. A selection:


A tiny alligator. Cool!

Last but not least, a New York City Subway Rat!!! :)

Full gallery here.

Notre Dame’s campus is looking rather festive now that Thanksgiving is over. A lot of the dorms have decorations, and that’s not all. On my walk back to my apartment from the bus stop, I passed two large Christmas trees, one near the main gate and one in the Fischer-O’Hara-Grace complex, where I live:

But, er, they seem to have run a little short on lights when they were decorating the FOG tree. :)

Also note the chunks of still-unmelted shoveled snow at the bottom of the FOG tree, left over from the first South Bend snowfall of the season on Wednesday, which I, alas, missed. (There will be plenty more where that came from, though, I’m sure.)

Charlie Ebersol, a famous/infamous Notre Dame student and the son of NBC Sports chairman Dick Ebersol, apparently helped save his father’s life as both survived a plane crash that killed at least two people Sunday in Colorado. The charter plane was en route to South Bend for Charlie’s return to school.

UPDATE: The Observer has more, including some background on Charlie for the uninitiated:

Charlie Ebersol, 21, played a vocal role in Notre Dame student government, twice running for student body president and losing by narrow margins in 2003 and 2004. Ebersol served as manager of the Student Union Board and a member of the Council of Representatives during the 2003-04 term and was a key actor in the recent restructuring of student government.

A film, television and theatre major, Ebersol lived in Keough for two and half years before moving off-campus.

Apparently Charlie’s younger brother Teddy, 14, is missing at this hour. Here’s hoping and praying he’s okay.

P.S. They’re discussing this over on NDToday.com, where you can get something of a window into what I mean by “famous/infamous.” Money quotes:

How awfully ironic that it’s Charlie that this happened to. I hope all that those who bashed him on these message boards, spread nasty rumors about him, or worst of all, keyed his car, now feel some pangs of guilt. This just shows that no matter how much money and privilege someone has, they are just as human as the rest of us. …

[T]here is no more of a reason to feel guilty than before for keying his car. You should feel guilty for disrespecting someone’s property, which has nothing to do with any plane crash or any kind of accident. …

My only point was that it was ironic that he seems to be the most hated person on this campus, and yet he’s the one it happened to. It just seems ironic that there was a time when there were people who wished bad things upon him, and now something awful really has happened. …

I don’t think anyone wanted Charlie to get hurt, and I doubt that anyone who thought he was a douchebag before thinks he’s any less of a douchebag now. I’m sure those same people are also sincerely concerned for his family and wish them all the best.

P.P.S. The South Bend Tribune has more on the Ebersols.

P.P.P.S. Here’s a file photo of Charlie Ebersol.

(Hat tip: Miss Jeeves, via the “tips” email.)

Becky and I just barely missed, by a couple of hours, being in Times Square during the Toys ‘R Us pepper-spray attack Saturday afternoon. The caustic irritant was released, apparently by pranksters, in an elevator; it then spread throughout the store, causing panic and a massive evacuation. Mickey Kaus wisely notes the “obvious lesson” of this incident: “We are so much more vulnerable to an attack–in terms of casualties, and economic damage–than we’re pretending.” He adds:

The scary immediate possibility, for NYC security officials, is that this was a dress-rehearsal experiment by actual terrorists to see if a potentially lethal agent could be spread efficiently in the elevator bank of a crowded department store. If so, the experiment would seem to have been a success (from the terrorists’ point of view).

I doubt that’s the case, but I suppose it’s possible.

Arash explains, again, why Auburn is #3.

Stewart Mandel points out at the number of bowl-eligible teams in all of America is down to 57 — just one more than the 56 available spots in college football’s 28 bowls. As a result:

If your team finished with a winning record, it’s all but guaranteed to wind up somewhere this bowl season. Therefore the Mid-American Conference, which has never before garnered more than two invites in the same year — and which a year ago saw a 10-win Northern Illinois team get left at home — could have as many as six this year (Miami of Ohio, Toledo, Bowling Green, Northern Illinois, Marshall and Akron), while Connecticut and Troy (formerly Troy State), both just a few years removed from I-AA, likely will be making their first-ever bowl trips.

Bad news for college football, perhaps, but good news for UConn! Go Huskies! :)

In the 121st edition of The Game, Yale lost badly to their archrival Harvard, but restored some lustre to the rivalry nonetheless with a great prank.