“I saw him jiggle it”: State posts gubernatorial blooper reel online

Outtakes were posted Oct. 13 from an anti-bullying video featuring Gov. Martin O’Malley and Maryland first lady Katie O’Malley and, honestly, we just didn’t know about it. But Gov. O’Malley tweeted the video today “in the spirit of #Halloween,” and now we’re passing it on.

We’re glad you too can hear the chairman of the Democratic Governors Association say things like “He did jiggle it. I saw him jiggle it.” and “I think this is magic.” (Spoiler: He’s right on both accounts.)

The finished product doesn’t appear to have gotten much play on YouTube, but it’s a very quiet minute-plus, a Woody Allen-esque long shot, just a couple of people, talkin’ ’bout love without any cuts or interruptions.

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Yes, it may actually snow Saturday night

Weather.com says there’s a 70 percent chance of snow Saturday night, with around around an inch of the cold white stuff falling after afternoon rain.

Whoever it is running the TerpWeather Facebook page also says to expect “1″-2″ OF SNOW TOMORROW AFTERNOON. INITIALLY STARTING AS AN ANNOYINGLY COLD RAIN, MIXING WITH AND THEN CHANGING OVER TO SNOW.” We’re not sure who’s actually behind the page, but he (or she) sounds pretty well-educated in matters atmospherical. Trust it however you feel appropriate, and maybe ditch that “Baywatch babe” get-up for, like, an Eskimo costume.

MA'AM, YOU ARE MISSING THE POINT OF AN ESKIMO COSTUME.

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Don’t you say one mean word about Todd Heap during the Ravens game

Photo by Keith Allison via Creative Commons

No word yet on whether a hamstring injury will keep former Baltimore Ravens tight end Todd Heap out of the game when he comes back to town in an Arizona Cardinals jersey Sunday, but if he gets on that field, be nice to the guy.

Heap, who said he was “hoping to be ready” for the game, according to the Arizona Republic, took out a half-page ad in the Baltimore Sun today to thank the Ravens, the city and Baltimore fans for “the way this city embraced our family and took us in as your own.” 

North Campus folks make unoriginal joke that is still very funny

Get it? It's an ICE CUBE ICE CUBE DISPENSER.

Twitter user @V_RoseLambo tweeted this photo Wednesday night, after another that said “Only at #UMD. LMAO.” We’re with her regarding the laughing off of body parts, but it certainly couldn’t only happen here — if you Google “ice cube dispenser,” it comes up twice before pictures of actual ice cube dispensers.

From the Stacks: Nuking Baltimore

From page 3 of The Diamondback, Sept. 30, 1955:

H-Bomb Would Devastate City,
Cause Million Casualties

The mushroom cloud from a 1954 nuclear test at Bikini Atoll . Not part of original article. (courtesy U.S. Dept. of Energy)

Detonation of a single modern hydrogen bomb over the City of Baltimore would cause one million deaths or casualties, as well as virtually complete destruction of the city and port, according to the results of a research project published last Monday by the Bureau of Business and Economic Research of the University.

Titled “Baltimore and the H-Bomb,” the study attempts to provide objective information on the full dimensions of the atomic threat, in the hope that full information will lead to adequate preparation and prevention.

N.C. State columnist plagiarized columns from across the country

UPDATE, 10/19: Technician editor in chief Laura Wilkinson has posted an apologetic letter from the editor informing readers of a “case of plagiarism.”

“One columnist letting you down means I am letting you down,” she wrote. “We are nothing without the truth and we are nothing without our readers.”

While Karpur was not named in the letter, the letter says ”the columnist responsible is no longer allowed to contribute to any Student Media publication and the publications the columnist took material from are in the process of being notified. “

All of Karpur’s columns were also deleted from the Technician website.

ORIGINAL POST: North Carolina State University student newspaper Technician published a column Monday under the headline “Homework — making time to make time.” It carried the byline of Dileep Karpur, who is listed as a staff columnist.

It appears Dileep Karpur did not write that column.

That column was written by Diamondback columnist Jessica Jimenez and was published last Thursday, under the same headline. The two pieces are nearly identical, and The Diamondback alerted Technician editors about the situation Tuesday afternoon. The editors didn’t have to look hard — all but one column published under Karpur’s name appears to have been filched from college newspapers around the country and as far away as Hawaii.

University alum reinvents wheel

A 1980 graduate of this university has invented an improved version of the classic Radio Flyer little red wagon, according to the Virginian-Pilot. Virginia Beach’s Richard Shapiro, an injury trial lawyer by trade, has taken out 15 patents on his improved wagon, which features wheels that fold up into the cart for easier storage.

The Radio Flyer company also licensed one of his other inventions — a handle that, rather than sticking up in the air, folds into the cart.

Not as good.

Way better. (Children not included)

While Shapiro told the Virginian-Pilot that he was not allowed to say how much he’s being paid for the innovation, there is no doubt Radio Flyer is kicking itself for not inventing it like, 94 years ago, when it also made a lot of sense and was not at all impossible to do.

Another UMD alum makes spectacle of self

Please note: This is not a family blog post. It includes quotes from a source that use strong language and contains links to several other sources using similar profanity. If this bothers you, you may want to navigate elsewhere.

We thought former Diamondback opinion editor Stefanie Williams appearing on a Country Music Television reality show was as much exposure as a UMD alum was going to get this month.

Another former Diamondback opinion editor, Rob Gindes, has proven us wrong.

While Williams will be beamed into the homes of all eight(ish) people who watch Country Music Television, Gindes appeared Friday on the front page of Wikipedia, the sixth-most visited website on all of planet Earth.

For several hours, Gindes’ smirking mug was at the very top of every English-language Wikipedia page next to a link to his “appeal,” which began, “If it were up to me, I’d sell Wikipedia out without thinking twice. Advertisers on every page.”

University Police stand behind strong reaction to tornado threat

By Erin Egan
Staff writer

Despite multiple uses of the campus emergency siren and several university text messages saying a tornado was “forecast to strike the campus,” University Police said there have been no reports of a tornado touching down in College Park tonight and that there were no reported injuries or incidents related to the storm.

ABC7 is reporting the university “mistakenly” warned students of a tornado, but University Police spokesman Capt. Marc Limansky stood by the multiple alerts sent to students.

UMD tornado scare: The sky during the rain

7:28 p.m.: The danger appears to have passed, though heavy storms are still passing through parts of the state, according to the Washington Post. See our liveblog of the evening for more information about the storm. DBK photo editor Charlie DeBoyace took this photo several minutes ago, during the heaviest of the rain:

We leave you with a song we break out whenever things like this (almost kind of) happen. Enjoy, and relax — the worst has apparently passed without major incident.

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