Breadloaf is going strong this summer as evidenced by a video from a teacher to his students. Maybe this video also serves to demonstrate why we need a new Middlebury website…?

So this is how alumni party? And its in the Hepburn Zoo? Dang…reunion.

Any good language school video out there yet?

Let’s face it. I’m busy. You’re busy. Middlebury is busy, too. There just aren’t enough hours in the day, even in the summer. So, for all of us that have been busy, here’s the scoop about all things Midd related that have happened in the last week or so. No frills, just the dirty details. Read this quick so you’ll be caught for when you see all your friends this weekend.

• Middish: Middish is a new “context-based community translation tool” developed for Midd language schools and beyond by Midd’s own Matt Park and Wayne Shu from Columbia University. Basically, if you have something you want translated into Chinese, like “I’d like a Protuguese Egg Tart and a durian bubbletea please,” just type it in and the world will help you translate it into simplified Chinese and traditional Chinese. Legit.
• A Million: Middlebury once again met the Alumni Participation Challenge. 60% of alumni have given gifts to the college so far this year, earning a matching donation of $1 million from an anonymous donor. Success.
• English: Rumor has it that Midd summer employees are, gasp!, speaking English on campus and causing problems in the dining halls/dorms for those who aren’t even supposed to hear English.  Do we have any on-campus readers willing to dish on this? How weird is it to live day by day with signs that say “No English Spoken Here,” when, in reality, you have to speak it?
• Reunion: I start hyperventilating when somebody says, “When you have children…” Please, stop. Mark Patinkin, ‘74, however, recently attended Reunion 2009 (which MiddBlog egregiously failed to adequately cover) and has decided to share with the world what Middlebury students think about after children and after our economy has fallen to pieces. If you read one random op-ed column this week, read this one.
• Promotions: Middlebury students are everywhere these days, like in museums or in charge of car companies.
• Projects for Peace: Dristy Shrestha, ‘11.5 won the Projects for Peace challenge this year and has headed off to Nepal to help finish a micro hydropower pipeline with two other students. They’re blogging their progress so you can follow along.

Know of any other awesome Midd-related news of late? Pass the info along to tips [at] midd-blog.com or leave a comment.

Happy 4th of July weekend!

I stopped Sunday Reading for the summer, partly because I’m now less likely to be near a computer and partly because so few people are reading. After the blockbuster week we’ve just had, however, I feel that it is my duty to give you “Sunday Reading, Special Edition: Sex, Rebellion and Global Warming.” Enjoy!

• THRILLER: My brother texted me at dinner on Thursday night to tell me pop icon MJ was dead. I didn’t believe him at first. Just about anywhere you go online now, you can find the latest updates on the investigation, tributes and secrets about how he defied gravity. RIP, dude.
• ANGEL: Farah Fawcett, one of the original Charlie’s Angels, also passed away this week after battling cancer for three years. RIP, sweetheart.
• COMEDIAN: Creating the trifecta of celebrity deaths this week, comedian Ed McMahon died of pneumonia approximately 48 hrs before MJ and just a few weeks after losing his house. RIP, sir.
• PITCHMAN: And finally, Sunday morning shocker, it is recently being reported that OxiClean pitchman, known for his unnecessarily loud voice, passed away last night in his sleep. 4 deaths in less than a week? I can’t handle this. RIP, man.
• COUP: Forget about Iran right now; they’re not being particularly cooperative. Plus, it was the president of Honduras this morning who was ousted in a military coup.
• ARGENTINA: SC Gov. Mark Sanford disappeared this week because he was hiking the Appalachian trail on a cruise with his Argentinian lover. Now, all his illicit emails to this woman have been leaked and his presidential aspirations have been crushed. Ouch.
• CLIMATE: The House managed to pass the landmark Waxman/Markey Climate bill this week, proving maybe almost Congress can get things done. While not everyone likes the bill, it was definitely an epic accomplishment.
• APPLE: Apple’s beloved hero and CEO has been on medical leave since January. Up until now, his activities have been a mystery. The WSJ reported this week that he had a liver transplant and now CNBC says he’s back at work. Say what? (PS: Apple’s stock did really well in Jobs’ absence.)

Middlebury students have a very profound love/hate relationship with quidditch. In other words, they love it or they hate it. No matter what side of the debate you’re on, however, you can’t deny that THIS MTV VIDEO is pretty kick-ass…I mean, awesome.

Spot your favorite MiddKid or read more.

Earlier today I was reading this summer’s “The Best of New England,” by New England Travel to see what I would learn about the greater Massachusetts-Vermont area. This is what I learned:

In Vermont, “Every person is required to bathe at least once a week, Saturday night.”

Upstanding citizen that I am, I needed to verify this information because, well, I’ve definitely broken the law a couple of times. I mean, the bathing Saturday night part I’ve violated a few times, not the whole not bathing for a week thing.

Unfortunately, I have yet to find a codified source. I did find this list of other Vermont laws though. Whistling under water? Really?

Also listed in the New England Travel Magazine that pertains to Middlebury are the Swift House Inn and Tully and Marie’s,

Former Midd President and head honcho of the org. Choose Responsibility, John McCardell has an article in this month’s issue of The Atlantic, the Big Ideas issue.

For the most part, he gives his standard stats on how binge drinking amongst 18-26 year olds has increased since the drinking age changed to 21 nationally. His big idea here, however, is none other than a sort of alcohol license, granted upon finishing high school and completing an alcohol education. He proposes:

“So what might states, freed from this federal penalty, do differently? They might license 18-year-olds—adults in the eyes of the law—to drink, provided they’ve completed high school, attended an alcohol-education course (that consists of more than temperance lectures and scare tactics), and kept a clean record.”

A license to drink that parallels my license to drive? Hmmm….interesting. I’m completely on board with Choose Responsibility, but something about this proposal just isn’t clicking for me. Is it really worth the extra paper work and red tape and the need to carry yet another ID with me everywhere? Although, since alcohol and driving are so frequently brought up in the same conversation, I suppose it makes sense to carry the connection just a little further.

Thoughts?

[via The Atlantic]

Water outage. Check.
Bulldozers. Check.
Rotting, reeking carcasses of campus intruders? Uhh.. no. (That would be cool, though.)

’twas a week ago when an emergency excavation site popped up in front of the Wright Theatre. That’s June 8, Monday morning to be exact.

That’s a week ago, if it helps you.

Battell, this year’s infamous summer employee residence hall, along with Johnson and Sunderland, had their water supply cut off for approximately 5 hours due to the finding of “another bed section of water” for these buildings.

Students that were completely unaware of the situation were especially dumbfounded after they:

- Finished their businesses in the bathrooms
- Tried to cook instant ramen for breakfast
- Tried to cook instant ramen for brunch
- Tried to cook instant ramen for lunch
- Got ready to take a quick shower in the shower stalls

So far, I have yet to find out what exactly happened to the water source/pipes; however, if you have absolutely nothing to do during the day, you can go check the place out in front of Battell.

Yeah, it’s still there. Amazing.

The Internet before the “the”. Weird

What will be next to gain a definite article? The Google? The Twitter? The Hulu?

One major project that Middlebury has undertaken for 2009 has been a complete makeover of its websites: Middlebury.edu and MIIS.edu (Monterey Institute of International Studies).

The project began with brainstorming and focus groups, eventually led to the hiring of White Whale, a CA based web design firm, to help with the construction and design of the sites and will officially finish around Jan 4, 2010 with the official roll-out of Midd’s website.

Yesterday, however, MIIS.edu was unveiled to those interested in a special presentation/online conference. While I have no official snapshots of the new site, I can give you this:

MIIS.edu through the years, courtesy of the Wayback! machine at archive.org. Watch the web progress!

What will the new one be like? Well, for that, you’re going to have to wait until the August 15 Beta lunch or the official launch on September 1.

Someday, we’re all going to have Kindles or iPhones or something cooler and never have to worry about running out of paper or ink or finding the single functioning machine on Campus.

Someday.

In the meantime, there’s Print Release.

The Main Library went 100% Print Release as of yesterday. In other words, you must confirm everything you want to print at a print release station.

If you read any of the sticky-note suggestions on the bulletin boards around the first print release trial on the first floor of the lib second semester, you will know that people were pretty much 50/50 on the issue.  Some (particularly people with nice handwriting) seemed to like the organization of it, others were still upset that it added more time to the printing process and still didn’t prevent the printers from breaking down.

Personally, I like the system. It’s nice to know that I can print my 37 articles on art collecting in medieval Tuscany at once, watch them print in front of me, and not have to sift through 14 other people’s theses.  Plus, bonus, it’s of course environmentally friendly. However, there are still some concerns.  Like, what about walk ups? At 12:30 on the Monday night of finals week when the library is 115% full and you really just need to print your paper to edit or if you need a map for a road trip quickly, printing from a walk up is very useful. Is there a way to put print release on those? Also, it’s possible that 2 walkups per printer would  still get congested. Is there a way to make it easier for students to map their laptops to network printers or would that just create more unnecessary items printed?

Not in favor of the print relase? It could be worse. You could have to pay for printing, an idea formally floated here at MiddBlog and over at Another Dean’s View, like guests to the library will now have to do.

MiddBlog wants to know: What are you thoughts about Print Release? Useful or a hassle? (Sorry, I don’t have any colorful sticky notes for you to write your comments on.)