UA In the News — April 12

Blue Knights Drum and Bugle Corps
Tuscaloosa News – April 11
The Blue Knights are a competitive drum and bugle corps based in Denver, Colo. Members audition in the fall and begin learning productions in the spring. Bryce Allen, a sophomore majoring in mechanical engineering at the University of Alabama and a member of the Million Dollar Band, said he is one of four UA students who are members of the Blue Knights. He said being a part of the Blue Knights includes not only learning and rehearsing the music but also rigorous physical training. Allen’s contrabass bugle weighs about 37 pounds. The 150 members of the Blue Knights tour all over the country for more than two months during summer.

University of Alabama’s Office of Archaeological Research Uses 3D Technology to Rebuild the Past
3DPrint.com – Dec. 20
It’s interesting to think about how much technology is used to look back in time, so to speak. I still can’t wrap my mind around the fact that it’s possible to see back millions of years in space, but on a more earthbound level, technology is able to make even ancient history clearer and more tangible than ever before. 3D technology, in particular, allows us to restore ancient objects and even rebuild things that no longer exist. 3D printing and scanning are just part of the arsenal of technology used by the University of Alabama’s Office of Archaeological Research (OAR) to bring the past into the present.

World’s Longest Snake Dies 3 Days After Being Captured
Live Science – April 11
A humongous reticulated python measuring 26.2-foot-long (8 meters) long was captured at a Malaysian construction site last week, but the snake died three days later while laying an egg, news sources report. The Malaysian snake was longer than five grand pianos … Reticulated pythons, which are native to Southeast Asia, are the longest snakes in the world, said Stephen Secor, a professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Alabama, who wasn’t involved with the Malaysian snake’s capture. These snakes are indeterminate growers, meaning they continue growing indefinitely, although they typically grow at a slower rate in old age, he said.
Hype – April 11

Serving up tradition: Sassafras Food Festival celebrates local, personal food cultures
Crimson White – April 11
The pages of a cookbook turn, the oven clicks on, a pleasant aroma fills the room and things start to feel just like home. For Lauren Cardon’s class, these experiences will be on display this weekend at the Sassafras Food Memories Festival. Cardon, a University of Alabama professor, teaches English 455, an English class where the theme of the coursework this semester is focused primarily on food. Teaming up with Sassafras, a local non-profit organization centered on bringing the community together, students from Cardon’s class will be presenting recipes and narratives based on memories of food. “Our theme this semester is ‘Discourses of food: Growing, cooking and consuming.’ All semester, the students have been reading and blogging about different writings on food and writing papers on foods themselves,” Cardon said.

UA offers historic sports campus tours
WVUA 23 (Tuscaloosa) – April 11
Self-guided tours of the Paul W. Bryant Museum will be available throughout the weekend. On Saturday morning there will be an additional tour offered. The Bryant Museum is working with a sports management class. The students will be giving free football-related campus tours that reflect on the history of Paul “Bear” Bryant.

Making the most out of life!
Cherokee County Herald – April 12
In addition to integrity and a strong work ethic, success in this world requires resilience and adaptability. And the keynote speaker for the recent Ninth Annual Centre Lions Club John L Ellis Leadership Forum can attest to how those qualities have worked in his life. Dr. John Higginbotham, a former resident of Cherokee County, earned his bachelor’s degree in public health at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and his PhD in epidemiology at the University of Texas’ medical branch in Galveston. He serves as associate vice president for research at the University of Alabama and oversees the work of all the university’s research departments.The event was held at Centre First United Methodist Church. Lion Ann Shumaker introduced Dr. Higginbotham to the local audience. “For the past several years we have endeavored to have someone who has had a connection with Cherokee County to be our keynote speaker,” noted Shumaker. “Many of you may have read in the papers we had John Ellis’ sister, Evelyn Ellis, who has a doctorate in pharmacokinetics and has her own pharmaceutical business and has developed numourous medicines one of which was prescribed by her father’s doctor for her father. He didn’t know his daughter had developed that praticiular medicine as I understand it.”

10 Sleep Hacks Every Student — And Every Person — Needs To Know
Huffington Post – April 11
We humans don’t prioritize our sleep quite as much as we should. According to recent reports from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about a third of American adults don’t get enough sleep, clocking fewer than seven hours each night — the minimum length of time adults should get to protect their health. Even more drastic, a University of Alabama study found that 60 percent of the college population does not get enough sleep. Skimping on Z’s can contribute to a host of health problems, including diabetes, heart disease and obesity.
MSN.com – April 11

Could scandal derail Bentley’s Alabama broadband plans?
Watchdog.org – April 11
The scene has been repeated ad nauseam over the past two weeks: Gov. Robert Bentley makes a scheduled stop to discuss a new industry or an economic development plan and, instead of questions about the issue at hand, he is peppered with queries about his alleged affair with a former staffer. Bill Stewart, professor emeritus of political science at the University of Alabama, told Watchdog.org on Monday that Bentley has gotten pushback from lawmakers in the past — see the governor’s tax increase plan in 2015, for example — but this scandal has taken the rhetoric to a new level. “I think that further weakens his position, and that’s bad for the citizens of Alabama because he can’t provide the leadership we need in order for our state to make progress,” Stewart said.

Opinion: The Next Load Of Free Stuff From Washington: Diapers
Forbes – April 11
In case you think there is still any life in the Constitution’s division of and limitations upon the powers of the federal government, consider the prospect of diaper subsidies. That excellent watchdog over governmental duplicity and lawnessness, Judicial Watch, reports here about the Obama administration’s determination to further extend the Nanny State to include diapers – even though Congress has said no to this bad idea. Twice … University of Alabama history professor David Beito has written two superb books on this, From Mutual Aid to the Welfare State and The Voluntary City (with Peter Gordon and Alexander Tabarrok).