Author: jnweaver

Dear Editor:

Science, technology and innovation matter to everyone!

Sixty-one Nobel laureates in science just announced their support of Barack Obama for president. They know how much science matters; and they know that Obama’s science and technology policies are an essential component of any plans to change our direction as a nation and address our critical problems in energy, medicine, climate change, security and economic competitiveness.

We, UW-Madison physics professors emeriti, have watched with great concern the loss of industrial jobs throughout Wisconsin, and the resulting growth of our economic problems.

Chadwick Becker remembers the day he was introduced to the Belegarth Medieval Combat Society. He was sitting in his dorm room on the Iowa State campus when his roommate ran in and told him he had to come and check something out.

What he saw were guys and girls dressed in medieval dress, wielding cushioned swords and shields as they fought one another. That was seven years ago. Once he saw it, he was hooked.

“I haven’t been able to stop,” said Becker, 25, of Illinois. “I do it for the physical activity. You have to be fast and quick. It’s like a sport.”

Becker was among a dozen Belegarth members who were demonstrating their skills at the second Geek.kon convention held Saturday and Sunday on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus.

Four University of Wisconsin chancellors are slated to receive pay raises of between 3.5 percent and nearly 5 percent.

The Board of Regents will consider the raises at its meeting next week.

A man was arrested Wednesday night after a State Street apartment resident reported that someone was trying to cut or rip his window screen, Madison police reported.

Two officers patrolling the area responded and arrested Samuel L. Coffee III, 39, no permanent address. Coffee was jailed on tentative charges of burglary and six counts of bail jumping.

According to police, a 22-year-old man reported that he was in his apartment in the 500 block of State Street around 11 p.m. Wednesday when he heard someone outside in the area of a fire escape, trying to cut or rip his window screen.

A 20-year-old male inmate awaiting trial on a charge of first-degree intentional homicide attempted suicide in the Dane County Jail early Thursday morning, the Sheriff’s Office reported.

The inmate from Stillwater, Minn., attempted to hang himself in the shower with his jail-issued uniform pants, but was rescued by a deputy and was conscious and alert after the rescue, the Sheriff’s Office said in a news release.

….The Sheriff’s Office has a policy of not releasing the names of inmates who attempt suicide. However, 20-year-old Adam Peterson of Stillwater, Minn., is being held in the jail on a charge of first-degree intentional homicide for the January death of 31-year-old Joel Marino.

A science historian at UW-Madison has been named interim director of the University’s Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies.

Gregg Mitman, 47, is a professor of history of science, medical history, science and technology studies and environmental studies.

Provost Pat Farrell, who announced the two-year appointment Wednesday, said Mitman will help the Nelson Institute meet the goals of a new university-wide strategic plan while addressing the environmental challenges of the 21st century.

Former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Louis Butler, ousted in a bitter campaign last spring which featured unprecedented money spent in a court race in the state, will be the next Justice in Residence at the University of Wisconsin Law School.

Law School Dean Kenneth B. Davis Jr. announced Wednesday that Butler will return to his alma mater to teach at the school for the next two years.

Local interest in the latest version of CBS’ hit series “Survivor” will be high starting Thursday night: One of the 18 competitors is a UW-Madison graduate.

Jacquie Berg, a 2005 graduate who originally hailed from Woodbury, Minn., is a member of the “Survivor: Gabon” cast, with the show debuting at 7 p.m. Thursday, the show’s 17th season on the network.

More than 100 Milwaukee Area Technical College students will be offered emergency loans from the school because a private student lender doesnâ??t have the cash to provide loans on time.

Students with Edamerica loans at UW-Madison, UW-Oshkosh and UW-Stout had three- to four-week delays in receiving their checks but have gotten their money, UW System spokesman David Giroux said.

Under a new collaborative program, doctorate-level students in the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s art history program and UW-Milwaukee’s School of Architecture can take classes at the other university.

D.C.A. Hillman isn’t on a mission to change the world. He just wants people to understand it a little bit better.

The Madison author of “The Chemical Muse: Drug Use and the Roots of Western Civilization” is trying to open a few eyes about ancient history. Drugs were an everyday part of life in ancient Greece and Rome, Hillman writes in the book, and an influence on the arts, philosophy and politics on which our own culture is based.

(Carol Newlands, chair of the Classics department, is quoted.)