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(06/07/13 9:06pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The Indiana Memorial Union can seem like a labyrinth, but there’s mystery and history within its walls beyond the confusing passageways.The next time you’re standing in line at Starbucks, consider that about 50 years ago, you would have been ordering from the Biddle Hotel’s front desk. Or the next time you’re by the “Fire of Hospitality” in the South Lounge, think about how it’s been burning since 1939. The Union is full of secrets, and Thomas Simmons, IMU associate director, is one of its keepers. These are just a few of the sections. 1. KP Williams Dining RoomNamed for the distinguished mathematics professor and founder of IU’s formal ROTC program, the Kenneth Powers Williams Dining Room is nestled within the Union’s third floor. Because it is so tiny and compact, the room’s antique table seats only 10 guests. 2. Federal RoomHidden behind a nondescript, closed door is the Federal Room, an ornate colonial dining room and parlor. Instead of wallpaper, the parlor is lined with woodblock prints of French origin that depict early scenes of American history. On the wall hangs the “Unfinished Portrait.” It is a painting of Mary Burnet, who is known for her contributions to the art movement in Indiana during the early 1900s, Simmons said. She received an honorary master’s degree from IU in 1933. 3. The buried rifle rangeDirectly beneath Dunn Meadow Café is the now dormant rifle range of the IMU, complete with a gun vault and targets. It was formerly used by students, especially those in the ROTC.4. Alumni Hall dressing roomsIn the 1930s and ‘40s, this was home to IU’s theatrical performances. The stage in Alumni Hall is just the front door to the maze of outdated dressing rooms and neglected stairwells.5. Memorial RoomThe room outside Starbucks hosts the two oldest artifacts in the building: two stained glass windows, one of which dates back to 1920 and was donated by Hoosier novelist Booth Tarkington’s home. At the heart of the Memorial Room is the Golden Book that records the names of the men and women of IU who served in the wars of the Republic.6. The Student Activities Tower, eighth floorThe eighth floor of the Student Activities Tower, the summit of the Union only accessible via stairs, is home to the Fletchall Room and the Bryan Room. The Union Board used to conduct meetings in the Fletchall Room in the 1930s, but they can now be rented out to any student organization willing to make the trek.
(04/08/13 11:26pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>If you don’t have time for a workout, try any of these five activities that will burn calories with minimal effort.1. Studies show that students who fidget burn up to 350 more calories a day than those who sit completely still during class. So don’t judge that annoying leg-bouncer — join in on the bouncing.2. When scheduling classes, consider the locations of the buildings. Try to enroll in classes that are held all over campus so you have to walk. Kelley to Rawles Hall in 15 minutes? Challenge accepted.3. Laughing for 10 to 15 minutes daily burns about 50 calories. Catch an act at the Comedy Attic to burn up to 300 calories just by cracking up at some jokes.4. Feeling guilty about downing that Blue Moon? Play one hour of darts at the Video Saloon on West Seventh Street and burn up to 200 calories.5. Bike to class. Twenty minutes of biking burns around 100 calories. For an extra burn get your hands dirty and build your own bike at the Bloomington Community Bike Project.
(04/08/13 10:23pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>It’s not uncommon for brows to drip at the taste of a small cayenne pepper. José Bonner, a professor who teaches Biology of Food, has a seasoned tongue for these flaming cuisines and can explain the common steamy reaction.“Chemicals in spicy foods, like chile peppers, interact with our heat-sensing receptors and make the neurons fire,” Bonner says.The effect of spicy foods depends on the temperature-sensing neurons, not our taste buds. So the spicier something tastes, the higher the body’s temperature will rise — to the point where it might actually break a sweat.Feeling daring? Test your taste buds with Bonner’s zesty recipe. Just be sure to have a glass of milk nearby to quench the flames.Smokey Habañero Salsa1 ripe tomato1 habañero chili1 chipotleJuice from 1/2 “juice” orangeDash of onion and garlic salt1. Put chipotle in boiling water, turn off heat and let cool, chop very fine.2. Remove skin from tomato, chop coarse.3. Grind the habañero and use as much as you’re comfortable with.4. Squeeze to juice from 1/2 of a “juice” orange.5. Add dashes of onion, garlic salt, or any other spices you prefer.
(02/19/13 12:01am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Think the use of marijuana is a phenomenon of the last century? Think again. From the cultivation of the plant in ancient China to the discovery of a 3,000-year-old Egyptian mummy with traces of THC, psychedelic drugs have a long history of experimentation dating much further back than the 1970s. But what is it about these drugs that sparks such a timeless interest? How do different psychedelic drugs affect the senses for better or for worse?MarijuanaAlthough the taste buds aren’t directly affected, molecules called endocannabinoids trigger what we know as “the munchies,” or the ability to finish an entire package of Double Stuf Oreos by yourself.Usually, the pupils are dilated and peripheral vision is distorted.Tetrahydrocannabinol, commonly known as THC, blocks neurotransmitters in the brain from functioning properly. That means information from the senses, such as what you see or smell, is delivered to the brain differently. Concentration, memory, and motor skills are just a few things that are affected.Personal Health Coordinator and IU professor Kathy Finley says chronic use of marijuana can be particularly negative, even decreasing IQ by eight points for adolescent users. Severe abuse of marijuana can also downplay the effects of other pleasures when the user is sober. “They need something else to replenish that surge of euphoria,” Finley says. “You’re not going to feel happy enough with food or sex like normal people. You’ll need something more.” MushroomsPsychedelic mushrooms, also known as psilocybin, typically affect the user for about five hours. One generally feels like the experience lasted much longer.Mushrooms affect the central nervous system, or the brain and spinal cord, which is why users often feel like they are able to explore different parts of their consciousness. However, bad trips on mushrooms do happen and are usually triggered by unfamiliar surroundings or a poor emotional state.Although vision isn’t directly affected, the perception of colors, surfaces, details, and patterns can be exaggerated or enhanced. Users also report feeling light and tingly when under the influence of the magic fungus.LSDLSD, also known as acid, California Sunshine, Electric Kool-Aid, or blotter, exhibits as many effects on the senses as the seemingly infinite number of eclectic nicknames it has received. Consistent LSD users rarely have the same experiences as one another, which makes it difficult to narrow down any definitive symptoms that result from using the drug.Typically, LSD can play tricks on the senses and cause users to taste, see, or hear something that doesn’t exist in reality. LSD can also trigger a user’s synesthesia, or the connection between two senses. For example: seeing sourness or hearing blue.
(02/12/13 7:35pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____> During the years Welch has attended several coin-collecting conventions where microscopes and magnifying glasses are just part of the process, he says. “It’s like a science. It’s really complex,” Welch says. “People get really weird about them.”Although they only represent one one-hundredth of a dollar, some pennies, depending on the year they were made and condition, can be worth thousands of dollars. “A worn-out slug from 1793 would be $2,000,” he says. In fact, a pure copper penny is worth three cents. But in 1982 the U.S. started copper-plating zinc pennies, so pennies today are worth less. Ironically, some pennies are valuable because of their defects. Welch says some pennies from 1955 and 1972 are unique and worth more due to a mint malfunction where the penny blanks were struck twice creating a double image. But as they say, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.Did You Know?At one time, Tim Welch had a collection of pennies that included one from every year but two between 1793 and 1975. Although Welch never owned one himself, some unique pennies have run for about $300,000 at auctions.
(02/12/13 7:27pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____> Our 16th president’s name has become a household term, an everyday profile made eternal in copper, a persona of equality. But who really was this enigmatic public figure we refer to as Abraham Lincoln? For us Hoosiers, Lincoln’s youth hit a bit closer to home because he spent the majority of his childhood and adolescence in southern Indiana. “The influence of Indiana in his life was huge,” recent IU history Ph.D. candidate Keith Erekson says. “One of the false stereotypes of Indiana at the time was that it was a tiny stagnant place, when in fact the opposite was true.” Lincoln ran a ferry back and forth across the Ohio River during his teenage years. “Back then the Ohio was the interstate,” Erekson says. “The Midwest was a dynamic place, which explains his life, because he was a part of this big network.” And while the logs were laid, so to speak, for Lincoln’s career as a successful politician, it turns out that not all of the logs link up perfectly with our idealistic image of Lincoln today. “It’s really easy to look back at major historical figures and feel that if those people weren’t around, such and such wouldn’t have happened,” IU history professor Amrita Myers says. “It’s dangerous because the sorts of things we’re talking about, the Civil War, the Emancipation Proclamation, are much, much bigger than one person.” Although Lincoln is commonly remembered as “The Great Emancipator,” Myers says using this term is somewhat misguided. “He’s a much more complicated person than we make him out to be,” Myers says. “We make him into a movement messiah, and we start to think that if he hadn’t been around, the abolition wouldn’t have happened. But the movement had been around for decades.” Because Lincoln was primarily concerned with the North and keeping the nation intact, he made strategic decisions regarding abolition in terms of what might salvage the country as opposed to his own opinions on slavery, she says. “He was antislavery, but that didn’t mean that he was in favor of racial equality,” Myers says. “He was very practical. He wanted to save the union.” But Lincoln struggled with more than the country’s political turmoil. “He was always a gloomy person,” Erekson says. “The word they used back then was ‘melancholy.’ He was often thinking that he was going to die. He was superstitious, but not doing Ouija boards or something. It probably came from being a politician.” A messiah or military strategist, either way, Lincoln has been immortalized in our American culture. As Erekson puts it, “He’s the kind of person who never really goes away.”From president to pop star Lincoln’s presence is kept alive today through films and books in pop culture, most recently with the 2013 Academy Award Best Picture nominee, “Lincoln.” Myers says the influx in all things Lincoln might be a result of the celebration of his birth’s bicentennial in 2009 and the recent 150-year anniversary of the Civil War. But it’s the less traditional renditions of Lincoln, like his character in 2012’s “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter,” that seem to shed light on his recent transformation from revered 16th president, to an icon. “If you’re going to put vampires anywhere, why not with Lincoln?” Erekson says. “It’s the leadership, and I think sometimes the common man part of him. He’s proven to be a useful mirror for people.” 2012 alumnus Stephen Hammoor directed a local production of “Abraham Lincoln’s Big Gay Dance Party” in 2011, which explored the “subtle references,” as Hammoor puts it, throughout Lincoln’s life to his possible homosexuality. “It really speaks to how complex Lincoln was,” he says.
(01/23/13 6:42pm)
Our Q&A with Lil Bub, Bloomington's very own kitty celebrity.
(06/07/12 5:14pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The Indiana Memorial Union can seem like a labyrinth, but there’s much more mystery and history riddled within its walls than its confusing passageways.The next time you’re standing in line at Starbucks, consider that about 50 years ago, you would have been ordering from the Biddle Hotel’s front desk. Or the next time you’re by the “Fire of Hospitality” in the South Lounge, think about how it’s been burning since 1939. The Union is full of secrets, and Thomas Simmons, IMU associate director, is one of its keepers. These are just a few of them. 1. KP Williams Dining RoomNamed for the distinguished mathematics professor and founder of IU’s formal ROTC program, the Kenneth Powers Williams Dining Room is nestled within the Union’s third floor. Because it is so tiny and compact, the room’s antique table seats only 10 guests. 2. Federal RoomHidden behind a nondescript, closed door is the Federal Room, an ornate colonial dining room and parlor. Instead of wallpaper, the parlor is lined with woodblock prints of French origin that depict early scenes of American history. On the wall hangs the “Unfinished Portrait.” It is a painting of Mary Burnet, who is known for her contributions to the art movement in Indiana during the early 1900’s, Simmons said. She received an honorary master’s degree from IU in 1933. 3. The buried rifle rangeDirectly beneath Dunn Meadow Café is the now dormant rifle range of the IMU, complete with a gun vault and targets. It was formerly used by students, especially those in the ROTC.4. Alumni Hall dressing roomsIn the 1930s and ‘40s, this home to IU’s theatrical performances. The stage in Alumni Hall is just the front door to the maze of outdated dressing rooms and neglected stairwells.5. Memorial RoomThe room outside Starbucks, which many students surely mistake for a chapel, hosts the two oldest artifacts in the building: two stained glass windows, one of which dates back to 1920 and was donated from Hoosier novelist Booth Tarkington’s home. At the heart of the Memorial Room is the Golden Book that records the names of the men and women of IU who served in the wars of the Republic.6. The Student Activities Tower, eighth floorThe eighth floor of the Student Activities Tower, the summit of the Union only accessible via stairs, is home to the Fletchall Room and the Bryan Room. The Union Board used to conduct meetings in the Fletchall Room in the 1930s, but they can now be rented out to any student organization willing to make the trek.INSIDE THE INDIANA MEMORIAL UNIONAt 500,000 sq. ft., the IMU is one of the largest student unions in the world, and within its limestone walls lie more than 80 years of campus history. But don’t take it from us: find these rooms for yourself and uncover some of the IMU’s hidden secrets. *SOURCE: INside Magazine, “The Secrets Issue” Spring 2012
(04/10/12 1:08am)
IMU houses more than cozy chairs
(02/21/12 2:41am)
Inside spoke with astronomy professor John Salzer to get the truth behind apocalyptic movies.
(01/27/12 9:30pm)
“Last December we (Bloomington) had a
3.8 magnitude quake,” Geology Professor Jeremy Dunning says. “But one the of
the largest quakes in U.S. history occurred on that same fault line—the New
Madrid Fault.”
(11/29/11 1:14am)
Five-mile sweat suit jogs, two-a-day lifting workouts, and hours of sitting and sweating in a sweltering sauna — all fueled by 800 calories.
(11/29/11 1:03am)
While most cringe in the face of a tattoo gun, senior Danny Stockberger embraces the opportunity as one to express himself. Since the summer of 2008, the sports marketing and management major has inked himself with four tattoos — an upper-arm sleeve, a Kanji symbol that means “run,” a life-sized heart on his chest, and two finger mustaches.
(10/11/11 2:36am)
Bats in the Basement Recent graduates Isaac Wilson and
John Paunicka were in Collins three years ago when they saw a bat in the
basement. Using a hamper, they were quickly able to catch it.
(10/11/11 2:27am)
Bedbugs
(Cimex lectularius)
(04/12/11 12:10am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>A jailed rapper might not sound like the best pen pal, but senior Meredith Barron learned that not only would her favorite artist, Lil Wayne, write back, he’d even try to grant her wish: a Little 500 concert.Barron, a Weezy enthusiast, wrote her fi rst letter to Lil Wayne last June after his imprisonment for weapons possession. In it she mentioned a petition she started at Kilroy’s to have him perform here, as well as how much his music meant to her.“I didn’t want to sound creepy or like, ‘I’m obsessed with you,’” Barron says. “But his music really got me through some tough times.”A couple months later, Lil Wayne, on his site weezythanxyou.com, responded specifically to Barron. “I thank you for your love and support,” he posted. “I can’t wait to see the petition and I’m gonna see if I can do the little 5 for ya.”He even added a shoutout to Barron’s pooch, affectionately named after Lil Wayne’s last name. “Carter’s adorable, just like you.”Barron also created a Facebook event promoting Lil Wayne’s attendance at this year’s Little 500, a page that at one point had more than 50,000 members.“Within 24 hours, there were like thousands of people saying they would come if he came."While Barron pulled at Weezy’s incarcerated heartstrings, Union Board worked to make a deal with Live Nation, which handles tour dates for Lil Wayne and Nicki Minaj. Union Board Concerts Director Lisa Wagner says she attended a conference in Los Angeles, determined to make a deal.“We always try to bring to IU the artists the students want the most, mostly according to surveys,” Wagner says. “So we had to send [Live Nation] a mean offer. Bloomington, although it’s a small city, shouldn’t be underappreciated.”After a two-week turn around, Live Nation told Union Board that Lil Wayne would attend Little 500 this spring. Mission accomplished.
(11/09/10 4:03am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>It is not uncommon for aspiring English majors to feel an impending sense of panic as their senior year launches into the homestretch. To help alleviate that anxiety, the Department of English held a panelist discussion with two prominent alumni, Bill Colson and Bill Grimes. On Nov. 3, the alumni shared their experiences of battling the literary world and emerging victorious.Department of English chairman Jonathan Elmer, the overseer of this event, explained that English majors should not be discouraged by family members’ skeptical attitudes toward their academic paths.“Usually the questions (family members) ask are well-intended but misguided,” Elmer said.Writers Colson and Grimes followed up by sharing their stories.“English taught me how to really read. My advice to you: don’t let plots wash over you,” Colson said.He also stressed the importance of English’s unique lessons of analysis, assessment and the ability to judge texts. Upon the completion of his dissertation, Colson came to a realization.“I’m not a prolific writer. I learned how to write, but I also learned that I’m not a writer,” Colson said. “I lacked the way writers can look at the world and write about it so easily.” An avid sports aficionado, Colson’s road eventually led him to an editing role at “Sports Illustrated.”“I was always fascinated and challenged by the writing and thinking style of editors. Really, editing is less talent and more temperament,” Colson said.Grimes’ tale worked in tandem with Colson’s to showcase the real-life success of English majors.Grimes is currently employed by the “New York Times” as a food critic, where he claims to be surrounded by more English majors than journalism majors. But his journey was not simple — it was an arduous climb to the top. Grimes said he worked several low-paying writing jobs as a launch pad and eventually ended up at “Esquire Magazine.” “I was able to make something of these seemingly idiotic assignments and figure out what was truly interesting. Then one thing led to the next, like a snowball effect, and I ended up at the Times,” Grimes said.This literary sage had some pretty profound ideas on English and its effect on prospective writers searching for jobs. Grimes expressed that English majors, and literary connoisseurs more generally, stand tall in this world.“You will find that you effortlessly rise above your peers because everything we study dissolves the clichés,” Grimes said. “You have a more creative way of regarding whatever comes your way.”Both panelists fervently advised students to tap into some other tangible passion beyond writing and to not give up hope for future job prospects.“Up until this point I had a very dismal view of my future,” freshman Rebecca Duggan said. “But these guys are so successful — it’s inspiring.”