COLLEGE NEWS
- Ag extension proposal available from department leaders
- Livestock producers' odor-reducing projects approved
- New Ag Council officers elected
- College to fund creative teaching ideas
- Application extended for Costa Rican study tour
- Deadlines & Reminders
COMMUNICATIONS KIOSK
- Dealing with bulk or junk e-mail
INFOGRAZING
- 'Delicious' trees grown from original, with ISU's
help
- Decent small towns off the beaten path
EXTERNAL VOICES
- What good do students get from Web surfing?
MARGINALIA
- Why paper cuts hurt like the dickens
C O L L E G E N E W S
AG EXTENSION PROPOSAL AVAILABLE FROM DEPARTMENT LEADERS
At the Ag Cabinet meeting today (Friday), Stan Johnson, vice provost
for extension, presented to college administrators a draft proposal
addressing on-campus extension and the College of Agriculture.
DEOs have copies of the proposal.
LIVESTOCK PRODUCERS' ODOR-REDUCING PROJECTS APPROVED
An external review committee has recommended funding 22 odor-reduction
demonstration projects proposed by Iowa livestock producers. Another
24 projects may be funded, pending receipt of more information
on the proposals. This year the Iowa Legislature appropriated
$400,000 for ISU to make available, on a 50/50 cost-share basis,
to livestock producers selected to demonstrate odor reduction
technologies. Project results and evaluation will be reported
to the public. The external review committee comprises representatives
of commodity groups, state agencies, producers, environmental
groups, farm organizations and others.
NEW AG COUNCIL OFFICERS ELECTED
Stacia Piggott is the new president of the Agricultural Student
Council. She's a junior in dairy science and public service and
administration in agriculture. Other officers are: Stacie Buhr,
vice president, junior, agricultural education and studies; Christa
Jensen, secretary, junior, journalism; and Dennis Holland, treasurer,
senior, agricultural systems technology. They'll begin their duties
next semester.
COLLEGE TO FUND CREATIVE TEACHING IDEAS
The new College of Agriculture Innovative Teaching Grants Program
will support creative approaches to undergraduate teaching. Grants
range from $1,000 to $4,000. Deadline for submitting proposals
is Dec. 17 to Eric Hoiberg's office, 134 Curtiss. For more information,
call 4-6614.
DEADLINE EXTENDED FOR COSTA RICAN STUDY TOUR
December 20 is the new deadline for applications for a study tour
of Costa Rica during spring break. The tour is open to five undergraduate
advisers and teaching faculty from the College of Agriculture.
The trip consists of an orientation at the University of Costa
Rica and a tour of the country that focuses on social and natural
resource management. More information: Eric Hoiberg, 134 Curtiss
Hall, 4-6614 or David Acker, 104 Curtiss, 4-8454.
DEADLINES & REMINDERS
Dec. 17: Proposal deadline, College of Agriculture Innovative
Teaching Grants, 134 Curtiss
Dec. 20: Costa Rican study tour applications due, 134 Curtiss
Dec. 21: Commencement
C O M M U N I C A T I O N S K I O S K
DEALING WITH BULK OR JUNK E-MAIL
Bulk or junk e-mail has become an annoying fact of life, but you
can do something about it, according to the ISU Computation Center.
If replying to the sender fails to solve the problem, contacting
the Internet provider may shut off the flow. Try to determine
the address where the message originated, usually found in the
last "Received:" line in the message's headers. (For
Eudora e-mail users, all the headers can be viewed by clicking
the "blah blah blah" icon on the tool bar.) Mail a message
to the username "abuse" or "postmaster" at
that site (e.g., postmaster@iastate.edu) with a brief, polite
note, the full headers of the message and the message itself.
A suggested note might read: "I received the following unsolicited
bulk e-mail, which apparently originated from your site. Please
take the appropriate action to ensure this doesn't happen again."
I N F O G R A Z I N G
'DELICIOUS' TREES GROWN FROM ORIGINAL, WITH ISU'S HELP
About 880 people from 15 states have bought trees budded from
the original Delicious apple tree, which was grown in 1870 by
an Iowa apple farmer. The project, organized by the Iowa Fruit
& Vegetable Growers Association for Iowa's sesquicentennial,
received help from ISU horticulturist Paul Domoto, who used shoots
collected from the original tree to propagate buds. About a thousand
seedlings are now being grown in a nursery and will be ready for
distribution in 1998. For more information: Lynn Fevold, Iowa
Fruit & Vegetable Association, (515) 648-9902.
DECENT SMALL TOWNS OFF THE BEATEN PATH
Geographer Everett Smith has devised an intriguing measure of
"decent" small towns to compete with popular press rankings
like the book "The Best 100 Small Towns in America."
Smith's personal preferences include things like architectural
aesthetics, a diversity of businesses and services, and a sense
of self-sufficiency. His list of 479 towns (including 37 in Iowa)
is mostly concentrated in the middle part of the country. Everett
chose towns that had at least 1,200 folks in 1950, now have 2,000-5,000
residents and didn't fluctuate wildly in the 1980s. The towns
are situated far enough from cities or other towns to ensure self-governance,
and most have a courthouse or hospital. He also notes that only
10 percent of his towns had a Wal-Mart, versus 70 percent of those
in the "Best 100" book. (Small Town, March-April 1996)
E X T E R N A L V O I C E S
WHAT GOOD DO STUDENTS GET FROM WEB SURFING?
"Everyone knows what you do with the Web: You surf, sliding
from site to site at the click of a mouse button. Exactly which
problem will Web-surfing attack? Our children's insufficient shallowness?
Excessive attention spans? Unhealthy fixation on in-depth analysis?
Stubborn unwillingness to push on to the next topic until they
mastered the last? We need less surfing in the schools, not more."
Yale University computer scientist and author David Gelerntner.
(Weekly Standard, Nov. 4)
M A R G I N A L I A
WHY PAPER CUTS HURT LIKE THE DICKENS
Ever wonder why a paper cut causes excruciating pain? Nature assumes
that your hands interact the most with the world, so you have
more pain receptors, which serve as warning signals, in your fingers,
says Alan Cowan of Temple University. He says paper cuts are an
equation of two elements that equal pain. First, the skin is being
physically cut. Next, there's a chemical reaction in which the
body releases pain-producing compounds that act on the raw nerve
endings. Emotions and circumstances also play a role in pain perception.
A paper cut can catch you off-guard because you don't expect to
be injured doing paperwork. Cowan also adds that when you're doing
paperwork there's not much excitement to distract you from pain.