Spring Carnival!!!!

SPRING CARNY IS HERE AT IT AGAIN, COME AND ENJOY!!

April 26th

All Time Low and Pierce The Veil Concert w/ opener Mayday Parade
Tsongas Center // 6:30 PM
$27 tickets @ Tsongas Center Box Office
Culture Shock
Campus Rec Center // 7 PM
$5 for all @ the door
Culture Shock After Party
Cumnock Hall// 11PM- 3AM
$5 for all @ the door
April 27th

UMass Lowell Day of Service
9AM- 12:30PM
Meet in the CRC Lawn at 9AM
Transportation provided, Snack & BBQ for all participants
Sign up at www.uml.edu/clubs
Beat the Heat
CRC Lawn// 12:30- 3PM
Stand up against climate change!
Music, food and giveaways!
Spring Carnival
Tsongas Center Back Lawn // 3-6PM
Club booths, Music, Food and Novelties!!
UML Got Talent
Cumnock Hall// 7PM
$3 Students and $5 for public

OFF BROADWAY PLAYERS Presents
The Question of Choice:
A FESTIVAL OF NEW WORKS
April 25 – 28 2013
Comley Lane Theatre
Tickets on Sale @ the South SIC (McGauvran 220)
< 3 GISELLE

Recess!

Recess!!!!
Spring is finally here!
How great does it feel to where shorts again???

Seriously, it’s hard not to get hyped when it’s been so nice out lately. Birds are chirping, everyones wearing shorts and stuff, everyone has stopped hibernating and are soaking up the sun. It feels great. Not to mention, theres only about a month of school left.
Doesn’t it feel like 3rd grade recess? It sure does to me. I was on east campus this weekend just sitting with my friends watching everyone enjoy life. It was awesome. I even got the privilege of witnessing some dude get hit in the face with a frisbee. 
Well here are some fun things I put together to get you outside and enjoying the sun and getting some fresh air. 
  • Longboard!!!! Longboarding is honestly one of the funnest things I have ever done. I used to skate board a lot until I destroyed my ankle so I switched to longboarding and I’ll never go back. Even if you’ve never longboarded before, it’s so easy to pick up. Go try somebodys board out and see if you like it. Then go ahead and buy one if you do, you’ll thank me later.
  • Be a stoop kid. Honestly, I hungout on my friends apartment stoop all day yesterday and I loved it. Whether your hanging out on the stoop of Fox hall or the stoop of your best friend’s apartment, to each their own. Just soaking up the sun and relaxing is the greatest feeling ever. Just relaxing and being stress free is perfect. Listen to the radio and mellow out. I did that all day yesterday and it was the perfect day. 
  • Hangout with that special someone. Nothings better than a little spring fling. 
  • Sit in the sun and read a good book. A little bit of alone time is good too. 
Lastly, enjoy your time with your college friends, since once summer hits and schools over and everyone goes back to wherever they came from and hangout with their old friends its over. You might see your college friends over the summer but its just not the same. So soak it up and enjoy it while it lasts. 
Enjoy your day everybody,
Tim 





Walk to get the job DONE!

Sitting all day at a desk job can be devastating to your health. In fact, it can shave years off your life. Studies show that a sedentary lifestyle causes cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity, depression and more.

Researchers say that while working out at the gym during leisure time helps, it’s not enough. The key is to get moving – standing and walking – throughout long days at the office to keep circulation flowing and health ailments at bay. But can office workers be productive and safe while picking up the pace? 
That’s where Assoc. Prof. Manuel Cifuentes of the Work Environment Department comes in. He is testing the use of treadmills and sit-to-stand electric desks with five University employees. The volunteers began integrating movement into their daily work lives in August. Once they adapted to their new workspaces, there was no turning back. 
“We’re really talking about interrupting long periods of sitting to get the body moving throughout the day,” says Cifuentes who received funding for the project from the Center for Promotion of Health in the New England Workplace’s (CPH-NEW) Pilot Grant Program. “The treadmills and stand-up desks are promising solutions to help people stay healthy but are in need of some improvements.” 
After installing the treadmills and desks in the offices of five employees, Cifuentes and his research team conducted focus groups and found that most of the volunteers are using the standing desks but not the treadmills. 
One of the participants, Director of Human Resources and Payroll Operations Hilary Clark, is happy with her workspace now but she didn’t feel that way at first. “In the beginning, I had the treadmill facing the corner but it was awkward and I hardly ever used it,” she says. “Then one day, I rearranged it so that my standing desk and treadmill faced forward with a small table and chairs in front for visitors.” 
The set up is just one of the challenges; another is productivity. Learning what tasks you can and can’t do while walking or standing is critical to success. 
“I’m finding that I can be productive on the treadmill while reading emails and talking on the phone,” says Clark. “I find it more difficult concentrating on a spreadsheet, entering information in a database and using a calculator while walking. It really is about finding what works best for you and adjusting.” 
The adjustment from sitting all day to walking and standing is a process. It took users about two weeks to adjust physically. Some participants reported discomfort in their feet and knees but then the pain disappeared. In the beginning of the trial, Clark would stand for an hour or two on one day and then sit for three days straight. The key for her was rearranging her space and wearing the right shoes. Today, she stands all day and wouldn’t have it any other way. 
“I feel so much better not being stuck in a chair,” she says. “My mind seems to work faster and I process information better.” “All participants are now standing all day long,” says Cifuentes. “It might not seem like much but when you stand, you are moving without realizing it.” 
Don’t Take Away That Treadmill Just Yet 
Use of the treadmill is not as popular as standing. Clark likes standing better than walking because she is more productive. But don’t take away that treadmill just yet. 
“Even though the six-month study is over, I signed up for the next phase for three years,” she says. “I don’t think I could go back to sitting all day long. I’m determined to use the treadmill more and have some ideas on how to improve the design. I’d like a smaller treadmill and one that just turns on when you start walking without a button.” 
This is exactly this type of feedback that the product manufacturers are finding valuable. 
Cifuentes says: “There are some design changes that need to be made to make the treadmill safer for employees and integrate more seamlessly into work spaces. We never want to shift hazards so making sure that employees are safely adopting this technology is one of our primary goals of the research.” 
That means working with manufacturers who make the equipment to improve the designs. Cifuentes recently presented the study results to insurance companies, furniture and treadmill manufacturers and educational institutions at a conference hosted by Jaymil Ergo & Office Solutions.
“Today, the ‘gym’ treadmill is not ready for mass consumption in offices,” says Cifuentes. “But with some design changes such as shortening the treadmill, limiting the miles per hour and automatic turn on, the potential for use and improving health is tremendous. In the meantime, organizations could provide employees with a shared area with treadmills where workers could sign up to walk.” 
About the Center for Promotion of Health in the New England Workplace Pilot Grant Program 
CPH-NEW Pilot Grant Program supports small grants of up to $12,000 per year to conduct preliminary studies or demonstration projects. Projects must relate to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health’s “Total Worker Health program” – the integration of occupational safety and health with workplace health promotion to prevent injury or illness and to advance health and well-being of workers. To request information, send an email to CPHNEW@uml.edu to receive the announcement for the 2013 Pilot Grant Program.

<  3 GISELLE

Why you shouldn’t be afraid of zombies

For every painfully long and almost unendurable episode of The Walking Dead there are a number of things that are simply overlooked about the character flaws of zombies. There is a reason that almost every zombie movie starts in an apocalyptic setting because if you were to start from the beginning you would realize that zombies are fairly weak and not menacing at all. Just role play with me for a minute. You’re in your room and you hear a scream in the hallway, you go open your door to see what is going on and OH MY GOD THERE’S A ZOMBIE. You panic and quickly go back into your room and lock the door. Now rule seventeen says not to be a hero but think of all of the items you can use in your room to either impale or bash in that zombies skull. There is quite a few. Now think about the entire country where people have more refined weapons than a pair of scissors to use to re-dead that horrifying zombie. There are a number of other things that would just go horribly wrong with a zombie outbreak.

Thing One: Everything about a zombie screams prey not predator

Zombies have no way to protect themselves from anything. At the mere sight of a zombie any animal or human would be looking for a way to kill it. Humans are way too evolved to be bested by a horde of zombies simply because we can actually use our brains and are not driven by an insatiable hunger for flesh. Humans can use almost anything they find to kill a zombie. Humans aside think of all of the bugs that feed off of soft-tissue. The zombie won’t have its eyes for much longer. Zombies are also not shielded from the elements. Have you ever left uncooked meat out in the heat? Have you ever put raw meat into a freezer? I’m sure you know what happens. I am not going to go into much detail on that one, you can use your imaginations. Zombie can also not heal from their wounds. Every day they sustain some sort of damage and their bodies just can not deal with it. There are also just too many natural disadvantages that zombies just could not overcome. Zombies can’t swim and walking on anything that isn’t flat also seems to be problematic for them. The layout of cities would also make zombie killing almost like hunting deer. Think of the giant grid that is New York City. Every zombie would be in a line for you to just shoot. It would be easier than sitting in a tree waiting for a deer to walk-bye.  
Thing Two: They spread their disease by biting 

How close would you be willing to let a zombie get to you? Chances are not very close. The number one method that a zombie spreads its disease is by biting people. Unless a zombie were to just appear in the middle of Day Glow I am fairly certain a few people might be asking themselves why there is a person with a horrible case of the dead biting people and would start running away. Think of the mass panic that arose from the H1N1 outbreak a few years ago. People were wearing surgical masks to shield themselves so that they wouldn’t get infected with the flu. If people are willing to walk around with a surgical mask in public on a day that is not Halloween think of what people will do to make sure that they don’t get bitten by a zombie and become infected themselves. When SARS broke out international travel from and to the US was shut down once it was found out that the virus might have spread to North America and only 43 people on the entire continent were killed by the disease. 
Thing Three: There are too many guns

While not everyone has a gun there are still a number of people who have guns and know how to use them. Think of all of the people who live in the south that just ride around on ATVs and shoot guns. Not at the same time but you get what I’m getting at. The Mavericks of the world. All of the gun toting Americans would not even hesitate to load up and start unloading some of the hundreds of thousands of rounds they have stashed in their “survival bunkers”. 
‘Merica 
So don’t fear zombies anymore because Merica is here to help get rid of them. 
-Brady

Advising

So it is that time of the semester again. Yes THAT time of the semester again but no not THAT time of the semester. We still have the month of April for classes and May for finals. What I am talking about is advising.

If you were thinking that I was talking about the end of the semester you are a very bad man!

With advising coming up you are going to need to get that advising hold removed from your account, if you have one at all, which is normally done by meeting with your adviser. Advising begins on April 16th which is also the first day of Fall 2013 registration. If you are unsure of who your advisor is here is a screenshot of my iSiS to help you figure it out!
What you should be bringing to your advising meeting is a list of the classes you want to take next semester and also yourself! If you are unsure of what classes you are supposed to bring if you go to HERE you can select your major and then find a link to the course requirements you can see by year what classes you should be taking. If you are unsure of how you are doing in your classes and could potentially fail classes or get a grade that you wish to replace, creating schedules for different scenarios of what your grades are like at the end of this semester. 
If this blog doesn’t help you in any way shape or form I apologize but I can advise that if you have any further questions contacting your Advisor or department would be quite beneficial.
-Brady

CREEPYPASTA

So friends, as finals approach and you’re doing all that late night studying, you are bound to get distracted and wander into the weird places of the internet.
The dark depths of various forums and message boards are where scary stories known as “creepypastas” are born. The name is derived from another internet phenomenon known as “copypasta,” which are basically ridiculous posts that get copied and pasted over and over and over. But these are better. These are CREEPY.
My first encounter with creepypasta was on a dark and stormy night in Eames Hall my freshman year. I was studying late into the evening, and after hours and hours of diligent work I decided to reward myself with a short internet break. Somehow I wandered into the badlands of the internet, but feeling brave, I continued on.


Much like Simba’s wanderings into the elephant graveyard, this was a bad idea. The first creepypasta story I came across is a classic one titled, “Gateway of the Mind.” The gist of the supposedly true tale recounts a team of scientists in 1983 conducting a radical experiment where they surgically sever all connections to the subject’s five senses and observe him over time. If you’re interested in reading the whole thing, it can be found here. It’s a little unsettling, but not as bad as some other pastas I’ve read since.

Perhaps the most well known is our tall, dapper friend Slender Man.

Slender Man



Origins: In June 2009, a contest was launched on the Something Awful forums to edit photos to include supernatural things. User Victor Surge posted two black and white photos of children in playgrounds with a tall figure in the background wearing a black suit. He also included text with the photos, describing the figure as “The Slender Man” and dating the photos as taken the day before fourteen children vanished. These descriptions added to the story of Slender Man and helped him go viral.

One of the original Slender Man photos.

Development: Slender Man quickly grew into a viral sensation; fans making more photos, drawings, stories [creepypastas], as well as videos and even games. The first video series involving our dapper faceless man is known as Marble Hornets. It also originated on the Something Awful forums, by user ce gars. The story tells of his friend Alex Kralie, a film school student working on a project called Marble Hornets. After stumbling across something unsettling, Alex abandons the project, dumps all his footage with Jay, and disappears. Jay then begins sifting through the footage and embarks on a creepy journey, all the while documenting his findings on his YouTube channel and Twitter. Apparently Marble Hornets is being turned into a feature length film, produced by Mosaic.



So friends, if you would like to scare yourself into not sleeping so you can stay up and study, I’d recommend watching the Marble Hornets series, browsing the Creepypasta wiki, or perhaps seeing the Evil Dead, the trailer of which Brady just showed me. I will not be sleeping tonight, or ever, and I may be crying right now.

Happy spring everyone!!



-Trudy

Don’t Forget!!

 IMPORTANT UPCOMING DATES!! DO NOT be the one who missed the deadline and now has to reside in a not so convenient place!
April 5, 2013Lottery numbers distributed to current residents and commuters that met the contract deadline.

April 11 and 12, 2013University and Riverview suite selection process.April 14 and 15, 2013 Room Retention for those with rooms that are eligible for retention.

April 16 and 17, 2013 Roommate pull-in for residents that retained their rooms.

April 18 and 19, 2013 General Room Selection.May 1, 2013 Housing Contracts deadline for guaranteed housing for new freshman and transfer students.  

Receive a Lottery Number April 4th/5th

 Lottery Numbers are randomly assigned between each student class in this order:

Graduate Students/Current Juniors

Current Sophomores

Current Freshmen

All Commuters

  

University Suites (East Campus): 4 & 6 person suites (primarily double rooms)

Riverview Suites (South Campus): 4 & 6 person apartments (all doubles)

Donahue Hall (East Campus): 4, 6, 8 person suites (doubles)


Inn and Conference Center (Downtown): Double room with private bathrooms


Concordia Hall (South Campus): Single and Double Rooms


Sheehy Hall (South Campus): 4, 6, 8 person suites (doubles)


University Apartments (all campuses): 2-6 person apartments, primarily double rooms – full kitchens

 <  3 Giselle

Cool Animals I Wish Weren’t Extinct

Hello everybody,

So this week I had to do a philosophy project about endangered species and whether or not humans should be obligated to protect them blah blah blah but the COOLEST part of it all were the cool animals I learned about that are no longer with us today.

Seriously these animals were bosses in their own right before they met their inevitable end. All of these animals existed in the last 1,000 years ago(sorry no dinosaurs in this post). Let’s get started.

Cool Animal #1: Stellar’s Sea Cow

This animal is like Tito from Rocket Power meets an aquatic environment. It could get as big as  26-30 feet! It’s like what would happen if a whale meets a manatee and they had babies. This thing is basically the bro of the ocean. Explorers used to write that these guys were extremely docile, however, fishermen and pirates basically genocided them to extinction during the 1700’s. Smh. If you want to learn more go here.

Cool Animal #2: The Atlas Bear
This was Africa’s only indigenous bear. It was hunted throughout history for sport and was even used by the Ancient Romans to fight gladiator’s and was also used for other events held at the Coliseum. The last known specimen was hunted and killed in the 1870’s. If you want more info you can find it here.


Cool Animal #3: The North American Lion


The only cool animals left in North America are mooses, wolves, and maybe cougars. North America is  by and large devoid of any cool reptiles or cool mammals like other continents have. Imagine you were minding your own business when all of a sudden a lion bigger than any modern African Lion came out of nowhere. That’s how cool the world would be if these lions were still around. You can find more info here.

Cool Animal #4: The Haast’s Eagle 
This eagle was the largest eagle of all time. It used to terrorize everything in New Zealand. In the picture it’s hunting Moa’s (also extinct), which could get as large as 12 feet tall and weigh over 500 pounds. That’s about 15 times as large as the eagle. That’s how wild these eagles were, they killed 500 pound things, honestly, these eagles would probably hunt humans if they got the chance. To put things in perspective, It’s size and weight indicate a bodily striking force equivalent to a cinder block falling off the height of an 8-foot building. This eagle was such a monster that humans did not directly cause it’s extinction, but rather, humans hunted and killed all of the flightless Moa, the eagles main prey, and therefore indirectly wiped out the Haast’s Eagles around the 1400’s. You can find more info at here.

These animals were champions of the world. Let’s have a moment of silence. *pours one out for the dead homies of the animal kingdom*

-Tim Brown

Salsa, the moves or the dip?

ITS THE MOVES!!! Oh Yeaaahhh! 
Salsa is NOT as hard as you may think. Give it try! i promise you’ll love it as much as I do  =)


What you could look like!!!



HISTORY OF SALSA
   While it is definitely more than just Cuban, a large part of the dance originated on the island. The French who fled from Haiti brought the Danzón or the country-dance of England/France to Cuba. This dance began to mix with the African rhumbas such as Guaguanco, Colombia and Yambú. Added to this is the Són of the Cuban people, which was a mixture of the Spanish troubadour (sonero) and the African drumbeats. This occurred in other places like the Dominican Republic, Colombia, and Puerto Rico, albeit not at the same grand level and manner as in Cuba.
   
Before and around the time of World War II, the music traveled to Mexico City and New York. It was in New York where the term “Salsa” was created. In fact, the use of the word salsa for dance-able Latin Music was coined in 1933 when Cuban song composer Ignacio Piñerio wrote the song Échale Salsita. The word served as a type of protest against bland food. It then flourished as a popular nickname for a variety of Hispanic influenced music 


LITTLE TIPS
Salsa is a dance of passion, where you feel and dance to the music. Sure.. rhythm and timing are important, but the real part of the dance comes from within.
Here’s an easy way to tell if you know the basic dance steps: While you are dancing with your partner, can you hold a conversation and complete all of the basics steps? If so, you are ready to learn the intermediate steps.

Beginners Lesson

Dance Lessons

Edwin Pabon (Boston)
617-524-0457

<  3 Giselle


Spice up your Ramen life

The best breakfast I ever made myself was most likely the Ramen noodles I used to cook when I was the self proclaimed chief chef of the universe in sixth grade. I used to make Ramen for myself everyday before school. When I say everyday I mean everyday. I would wake up at six in the morning just so I could shower, get dressed, eat my Ramen, and catch the bus at seven. I didn’t mess around with it either. Everything was perfectly timed. I was a god for ten minutes every morning when I put those dehydrated noodles into the boiling water. I soon realized that my god stature in the Ramen universe was nothing more than an illusion. People do so much more than simply make a soup. Some people cook the noodles, drain the water, and then add the flavor packet. It became apparent that my knowledge of Ramen was dwarfed immensely compared to the rest of the world. I quickly set out to fix that. I did research and experimented. You can only say that a Ramen recipe is bad when you have added so much curry powder to your broth that it makes doing the cinnamon challenge look like child’s play. 
My failed attempts at adding curry powder to my Ramen ended a lot like this

My quest may not be over to find the best Ramen recipe but it has brought me to very interesting places in the Ramen universe that I may never venture to again. I have done unimagineable things to Ramen noodles that I am pretty sure violated the Geneva convention or the Ramen rights equivalent. 
Way #1  

So you want to make macaroni and cheese but all you have is Velveeta and Ramen noodles? No problem. While being textually interesting it is easy to make and requires little materials. All you need is half a block of Velveeta, mix it with some milk, butter, and of course the cooked noodles. All you need to do is prepare the Velveeta, milk, and butter in the microwave until it is gooey then add it to the cooked noodles. If you want you can add more cheese on top then broil it to get a browned and bubbly top to your Ramac and Cheese.
Way #2

So it is early in the morning and you want some eggs. You can’t think of what else to add to your eggs and all you have is Ramen. Fret not! You can add eggs/Ramen to your Ramen/eggs in a number of fantastic ways. 
Hard Boiled Eggs
This is probably one of the easiest methods to add eggs to your Ramen and all you need to do is add the eggs to a pot of water, boil the water, then add your noodles and cook it as you want. 
Soft Boiled Eggs
To soft boil an egg in your Ramen you bring water to a boil, add the eggs. You can cook them for 3 minutes if you want them to be soft or for 5 minutes for a fully white and semi liquid yolk.
Egg Drop
To do this method you need to lightly beat an egg, once your noodles are cooked swirl the noodles and hot broth gently around the pot. While the broth is moving slowly drizzle the beaten egg. 
Fried Egg
To add fried eggs to your Ramen you simply need to fry an egg in another pan then add the fried egg to your Ramen after you have prepared the noodles. I am rather fond of this method because I love frying eggs and eating fried eggs. 
Way #3

So you can add eggs to your Ramen now but what about vegetables or meat? The easiest type of veggies that you can add to your Ramen are frozen veggies which you should run under hot water for thirty seconds to thaw them. Quick cooking veggies such as baby spinach can be stirred into the soup right before serving because they cook so quickly in the hot broth. 
Way #4

You can add meat to your Ramen simply and easily. Thinly sliced meat can be cooked in a matter of seconds directly in the soup. Chicken breast, pork tenderloin, and flank steaks are wonderful to add to the soup. To cook you can just add the meat to the hot broth until it is cooked, you should do this while the noodles are simmering. 
Way #5

Throw it all together
Use your imagination. You have just found out about three extra ingredients to add to your Ramen. No one said that they are only able to be done by themselves. Through the sheer number of vegetables, meats, egg cooking methods, and flavors of Ramen there are over 9,000 different ways for you to prepare your Ramen. So get cooking and enjoy!
-Brady