University Priorities

... or, The Propagation of Idiocy

Another email list I'm on is ALGTOP-L, devoted to algebraic topology news. I never contribute, I just read the posts to try to get a sense of what's going on in my former research field. There's also news about the people involved, some of whom I remember, and conference announcements.

Today there was a conference cancellation announced at a major Midwest university, with part of the explanation being, "With the tightly packed topology calendar this Fall and the hotel constraints imposed by the sports season, it proved impossible to reschedule."

In other words, one of the principle purposes of a university, the dissemination of knowledge, literally was canceled in this case to make room for sports fans.

Idiocy begets Ignorance, which propagates Idiocy.

A Sport I Can Get Behind

Video Find of the Day

I don't usually care for spectator sports, but once in a long while an exception comes along. This video from YouTube is in the sports category, so even though the description is in Portuguese I can be confident that it is a sport I am watching. Also, the participants are dressed in sports outfits. As best as I can tell the object of the sport is to use your butt to displace other players from the center of the ring. Clearly the blond woman featured in all the shots is the hands down winner. I am wondering if she has to have a license for that thing, to walk it down the street.



By the way, this video has been viewed nearly two-thirds of a million times. That's how you know what you're seeing is good solid entertainment.