A visual play on words

Here’s another that I found in a completely different location while not looking. Similar idea, but more serious and less funny on a lot of it.

Most Bizarre College Courses in America (Guest)

Each year, American colleges offer a number of courses apparently for no reason at all. Here are some of this year's offerings that students can take as part of their curriculum.

The Joy of Garbage – Santa Clara University

Students can receive 4 units of credit by tracing the pathway of garbage disposal, which according to the syllabus are dumped on minority communities or shipped abroad. I thought our counties went to the big landfill in the canyon, but I guess I was misled on all those field trips I took to the waste management plant. This class costs students almost $5000 to take.

Harry Potter: Finding Your Patronus - Oregon State University

Part of mandatory freshman orientation, this class is designed to teach leadership around a Harry Potter theme. Unless they teach a spell to learn calculus, this class seems just silly.

Theatrical Fencing – University of Wisconsin

Distinct from actual fencing, students in the class fence with a wooden weapon that they must provide. Apparently the point is not to win, but to look good whether winning or losing. The class description calls theatrical fencing a distinct form of sword craft. They seem to have certainly got that part right. Now, I am waiting for the theatrical fencing Olympics.

Arguing with Judge Judy: Popular Logic on TV Judge Shows – University of California at Berkeley

Well, if this class were to exist, Berkeley is where I would expect it to be. I am not so sure that the judges apply logic as much as the laws of the land, but I suppose some of them might be logical.

Sport for the Spectator – Ohio State University

Are they kidding with this one? Maybe they teach them how not to make the Friday night bonfire. What's there to learn? Put on school colors. Go to location of sport activity. Find seat. Cheer for your team. Hold up card when told. Come to think of it, I could have used some direction when my sons where playing all those sainted teams such as St. Catherine or St. Clement. The really bad ones were named something like Queen of Heaven or Christ the King. How do you cheer against those? I used to feel guilty just because I wanted them to lose. My favorite was All Saints, which meant everyone in heaven was now after me.

Geology and Cinema – University of Minnesota

Sounds like life is pretty dull in Minnesota. What was that rock that rolled down on Indiana Jones anyway? Oh, computer graphics. Okay, how about the 3D rocks in Journey to the Center of the Earth? Oh, computer graphics again. I don't think I would do very well in this class.

Stupidity – Occidental College

Explains how stupidity reveals itself in culture and politics. One must wonder which stupidity are we talking about? Anyway, imagine taking this class and failing. That picture is just, well, idiotic.

Star Trek and Religion – Indiana University

Clearly jealous because Captain Kirk came from Iowa, or a Trekie who wants to go on and on about Star Trek, this class is supposed to explore religion in the future. Did anyone on Star Trek go to church?

Zombies in Popular Media – Columbia College, Chicago

Students review literature, comics and film to form critical theories about zombies and society. How hard is it? See zombie, run. You might want to run to have a cat scan of your brain, but run.

 

Author Amy Southerland is a career advisor and contributing writer for thebestdegrees.org, a site providing lists of regionally accredited online schools as well as rankings and reviews for the best degrees currently available.

First grader doing Youtube makeup tutorials - Adorable!

She’s so awesome. If you’ve ever watched a makeup tutorial on YouTube before, you’ll know that this little girl knows what she’s doing…..check out how she holds the makeup up to the camera certain ways and some of the phrases she uses are identical.

Coming from a first grader, I love it. She’s obviously having fun but also really wanting to teach other people how to “achieve the same look.” Right now, she has several Halloween tutorials coming out and even shows how to make some of the costumes to go with the makeup.

Get more Madison here.

Bizarre Alien Invasions - Plants and Animals, That Is (Guest)

(Hey guys, I know it’s been really slow around here. I’m working to get back on track again. In the meantime, here’s a guest post from Justin.)

When you first hear about invasive species, the image that may come to your mind most quickly is that of aliens coming to take over the earth and driving out the human species. However, if you've ever taken a class on ecology either in real life or in an online school, you may know that this term is reserved for animals and plants that have been displaced and are doing so well in their new environment that they are destroying local species. In this modern world, species become misplaced all the time, and here are just a few of the ones that are doing some damage.

In the plant world, bizarre invaders are often guilty of hurting or driving out other plants. For example, in many places in California, they're dealing with a parasitic vine called Japanese dodder. It makes kudzu, a vine known as “the Plant that Ate the South,” look tame. This nasty weed looks like nothing quite so much as bright yellow spaghetti, infests other plants and trees and kills them, and it propagates from even the smallest cutting.

Some plants are dangers to all around them, not just other plants. Giant hogweed is notorious in some parts of the world, distinctive for its size and huge white compound flowers. The sap from this plant can cause itching, blisters and burns that result in scars, and people have been known to go blind from contact with it.
Pigs are something most people think of as farm animals and sources of food. However, wild pigs are causing problems in the state of New York. Russian wild boars were brought in for captive boar hunts upstate and escaped, destroying gardens and infecting pets with nasty viruses. Nutria, a beaver relative with a long thin tail like a large rat, were introduced in North America on fur farms when many local populations in South America became extinct. They are well known to destroy wetlands and irrigation systems, displace native animals and even chew through tires or house paneling. They are so infamous that in some states there is a large bounty offered to anyone who brings in their pelts. Also large and dangerous are the anacondas that have begun to flourish in the Everglades, thanks to people releasing pet snakes when they realized how big they grow. These snakes now get into fights with the native, endangered alligators, fights which they often win.

Across the pond, England has also had a number of problems with introduced mammals. The American mink escaping from fur farms in the 1960s and 1970s contributed to the near-extinction of the English otter. Competing for the same food, and both more aggressive and less vulnerable to human disturbance, they pushed otters out of much of eastern and central England. Less dangerous and more amusing was the small herd of red-necked wallabies that escaped from a private collection in the English Midlands and became established as a breeding species in a small area of Derbyshire. Whilst it's easy to laugh at the idea of kangaroos in Europe, they did compete for food sources with the native deer. The population is now believed to be extinct.

Some of the most infamous invasive species are found in Australia though. European rabbits have caused many problems in Australia, most notably the near extinction of the local bilby, and entire states have put up rabbit-proof fencing in response. The worst however is the cane toad. This poisonous toad was introduced in the mid-1930s to control the native cane beetle, and has been rapidly spreading over Australia ever since. It has decimated local species, from birds and bugs to snakes, lizards, and even crocodiles. There are only three species in Australia that can eat the cane toad, and a kind of bird has learned to attack the non-poisonous underside in defense, but the toad has pretty much free reign over the landscape. Similarly to the Nutria, bounties have been put on their heads, although the bounty isn't always money.

Bugs are some of the most invasive of invasive species, as they can travel almost anywhere without detection. For example, Khapra beetles have been discovered recently in rice shipments from India to New York. They're found in many Asian countries, originally hailing from India, and eat their way through tons of stored grain before hunkering down to wait for the next shipment. They're resistant to insecticides too. Equally bothersome is the brown marmorated stink bug, also known as the shield bug for its shape. This insect commonly devastates orchards and vegetable fields. In fact, a disproportionate number of invasive pests are beetles, but they are not often thought of because they are small.

Though each of these species looks and acts differently, they all share the problem of being in the wrong place. Though they may be as cute as rabbits or as lovely as rhododendrons, there is nothing pleasant about what they do to the environment around them. Fortunately we now understand the dangers of introducing non-native species to new environments, and are actively working to eradicate and remove those that have made their way to where they don't belong.