Tuesday, November 7
We are getting sleepy
Researchers at UVA discovered that jet-lagged mice die early, according to a study released in Current Biology today. Scientists subjected older mice to periods of light and darkness meant to imitate international travel. Apparently, erratic schedules and being damn sleepy (not to mention the stress of finding such tiny carry-on luggage!) caused mice to die untimely deaths. Does this mean coast-hopping humans are in for certain doom? That’s still up in the air.
Wednesday, November 8
Cups running over
And now this from The Embarrassment of Riches Department: more touristy love for Virginia wine. That’s right, no less a taste-setter than New York Magazine in its current issue recognizes the Commonwealth for its “excellent growing conditions, bucolic scenery, and a damn good Petit Verdot.” With recommendations that Empire State visitors bunk at the “elegantly lodge-ish Wintergreen Resort,” author Sara Cardace gives a shout-out to King Family Vineyards (Cab Franc); Oakencroft Vineyard & Winery (she liked the 2005 Viognier, saying it tastes “of banana”); Horton Vineyards (“easygoing”); and Barboursville Vineyards, where the “revered” 1998 Cab Sauvignon Reserve gets the love. Cheers!
Thursday, November 9
Income in a shade of Gray
Gray Television Inc, the Atlanta-based parent company of the Charlottesville Newsplex, saw third-quarter net income plummet 44 percent from the year-ago quarter, according to the Associated Press today. The reason? Higher operating expenses, which rose to $60.6 million from $49.8 million due to “expanded operations in the Charlottesville, Va., market,” along with acquisitions and expanded digital services. The 31-station operation, which locally includes CBS19, ABC16 and Fox27, saw its stock hit immediately by a 9-cent-per-share loss on the New York Stock Exchange.
Friday, November 10
Back offa Barber
Former UVA running back Tiki Barber has gotten flak from players, media and fans for planning to retire sans Super Bowl championship after his 10th season in pro football. Rick Reilly, in this week’s issue of Sports Illustrated, tells them to back off. Putting in gruesome terms the debilitating effects of a football career, Reilly writes, “Tiki Barber has his money, his memories and most of his cartilage.” Some players, like Dan Dierdorf, a 13-season lineman with the Cardinals who is two inches shorter than he was in high school from blocking with his head, or Jim Otto, a Hall of Famer who’s had 60 operations and is tortured by arthritis and rods down his spine, aren’t so lucky. Barber’s not quitting, Reilly contends. He’s just taking a pass on pain for the rest of his life.
Saturday, November 11
On the up and up
UVA had the highest overall tuition increase in 2006, the Sacramento State Hornet reports today in a piece about tuition increases curbing at other schools. The tuition increase at four-year public colleges overall was 6.3 percent. UVA students owe the honor to reduced contributions from the Commonwealth. UVA prioritizes keeping tuition lower for in-staters, so out-of-state students are hit the hardest.
Sunday, November 12
Sidarth speaks
Now that Virginia’s U.S. Senate race is history, one of its unwitting key players weighs in on the Commentary page of The Daily Progress. On August 11, UVA student S.R. Sidarth became the object of George Allen’s eyebrow-raising “macaca” gaffe while traveling with the Republican’s campaign as a tracker for Democratic opponent Jim Webb. Writes Sidarth, the racially tinged insult was a startling exception to the warm welcome he otherwise received from the senator’s campaign. But, he says, Allen’s assumption that Sidarth, a native Virginian, is an immigrant “underlines the problems our society still faces.”
Monday, November 13
All hail rail
Though independent U.S. Senate candidate Gail “For Rail” Parker may have been trounced in the recent election, the statewide conversation about light rail she hoped to spark appears to have some legs. Light rail’s environmental and urban-revitalization benefits will get an airing on Friday at the the Virginia Light Rail Symposium at the Science Museum of Virginia, according to today’s Richmond Times-Dispatch. Norfolk is currently getting set to spend $232 million on a 7.4-mile light-rail system, and Charlottesville is one of several other cities that occasionally toy with the idea. Still, the article quotes former Governor Gerald L. Baliles, who now heads UVA’s Miller Center for Public Affairs, saying that light rail is a supplement to—not a substitute for—more widespread modes of transportation.
