On campus deer management … with bows and arrows

deerAt Goucher College in Towson, Maryland, they’ve got a deer problem. A herd of almost 200 of the animals had settled in, pooping all over the place (I’m sure) and shedding disease-ridden deer ticks like it was their job.

So for five days over the winter break, while the school was closed, hunters were contracted to thin the herd. Over the course of that week, they shot 62 deer with compound bows, knocking the herd down to a more manageable size.

Predictably, some hippies alumni and students and the Humane Society were upset about the decision to partially cull a population of wild animals on a college campus. But the hunters came in anyways, and from what I understand, every thing’s hunky dory over there now, and they’ll be serving venison in the dining halls for at least the next three weeks.

The Law: 1 Facebook Creeps: 0

In the latest blow to the sex lives of convicted sexual predators: Looking to get your game on harass small children once again using social networks? Not so fast, says NY state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo. He’s gotten Facebook to agree to a new list of safety guidelines to protect against “sexual predators” and “obscene content” on the site. This attempted cleansing of sexual predators already happened on MySpace last year, after a Wired magazine article revealed that a ton of sexual predators (duh!) use the site.

According to the article, if someone complains about site content, Facebook will review the claim and then make a decision to remove the profile, picture, video, group, posting, etc. I don’t know how that’s different from the present - they already remove things they don’t like anyway.

Atkind will not pass Go, will not collect $200: The Journal is reporting today that Alexander Atkind, the Cornell student who pleaded guilty to a felony charge of abusing his roommate’s dog, Princess, will spend six months in jail for that crime. In his court-ordered Christmas stocking, he also gets: five years probation and another six months in jail for possessing magic mushrooms! There’s a lesson here, kids, and it involves not abusing animals (especially named Princess), not having drugs, and not getting caught.

And Now For Something Completely Different: A bunch of Australian newspapers - and now the Freakonomics blog - have linked to a picture of a spinning dancer, which purportedly spins a different way depending on which hemisphere of your brain you use more. Check out the comments on Freakonomics for an interesting look at which way people of different professions saw the dancer spinning. Counter-clockwise, and you’re a boring, logical right-brainer. Clockwise, and you’re a crazy, radical, creative type without a job. Or so the logic goes.

Me personally: I got it to spin both ways, which either means I was too tired to see straight, I’m actually lying to sound cooler, or I’m part Jedi master. I prefer the latter. Enjoy.

A tip: if you have any trouble getting her to spin right round, just focus on her foot and vibe out, man. Chill, bro. Then open your eyes, and she’ll be spinning the right way, I swear.