Colts, Hawkeyes, Cyclones, and Rose Parade bands, marching music for the 2024 Iowa Caucuses

It's MLK Day, but if you're looking for a post celebrating the holiday, click on Celebrating diversity in acting winners at the Golden Globes for MLK Day weekend. Instead, I'm beginning my marching music for presidential primaries series today — songs to listen and watch as my readers and I wait for results from the Iowa Caucuses, which are tonight. I'm opening with Colts | #dci2022 | The Silk Road from Drum Corps International (DCI).

Dubuque, Iowa's Colts perform a segment from the corps' #DCI2022 production, "The Silk Road," during the 2022 DCI World Championships hosted August 12-14 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.

That was only the official clip, which I put first for the preview image. The Stress Master at March Or Die has the complete show, along with a highlights reel of the corps' history welcoming it back to DCI Championship Finals, in DCI-Colts 2022 Finals Reaction.

This year was an amazing experience my first time at finals since 1998. So it has been a while. It was so great to see so many friends and drum corps family. Really can't explain how amazing it was to be there in person again.
The Colts are an amazing corps. The show was complex, intricate visual elements and a very well round corps. Great performance and can't wait to see what they bring next year.

Thank you so much for watching and please now how much I appreciate it.

Thank you!

Will tonight's attendees travel down the Silk Road to the caucus? More like the frozen tundra! That reminds me that the theme of the 2019 Colts show was When Hell Freezes Over. That's a good one for today!


Hearing "Danse Macabre" might just inspire me to use this for a Halloween post. Hey, I'm an environmentalist — I recycle!

Drum corps took a year off because of the pandemic, then returned to perform in exhibition during 2021. Watch March Or Die's DCI-Colts 2021 Reaction re-upload for the performance.

Another amazing show from 2021. I cannot believe how many creative, fun and honestly really well performed shows there were last summer. As we get closer to the 2022 season I am hoping that the shows this upcoming year will be amazing. Here's hoping!!!

The show's theme is "Leap of Faith," so will the caucus goers make a leap of faith tonight?

I close the drum corps portion of this post with DCI's A historic year for the 2023 Colts.

The 2023 Drum Corps International Tour and World Championships was one for the record books for Dubuque, Iowa's Colts. DCI's Dan Potter reported from the sideline of Lucas Oil Stadium during the DCI World Championship Semifinals, August 11.

Remember, home is "where the heart is."

Follow over the jump for the Hawkeye Marching Band, Iowa State University Cyclone Marching Band, and two Rose Parade bands from Iowa.

Obama visits Detroit plus election news from campuses on the campaign trail

This should be the next to last update of election news from campuses on the campaign trail.  Based on "if it moves, it leads," I begin with WXYZ covering President Obama visits Detroit.


Since this took place at Wayne State University, it technically counts as election news from a campus on the campaign trail.

Follow over the jump for more election news from Colorado, Florida, Illinois, and Iowa originally included in Overnight News Digest: Science Saturday (A bad week for private space) on Daily Kos.

Psychology of campaign ads and other election stories

It's time for the next installment of election news from campuses on the campaign trail.  I begin with an article from The Gazette of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, that I used as the top story of last Saturday's Overnight News Digest: Science Saturday (Psychology of Campaign Ads) on Daily Kos.*

Psychology behind the political ads
What ads say, what ads mean and how the messages stick with us
By Erin Jordan, The Gazette
Published: October 19 2014

CEDAR RAPIDS — Television these days is filled with drama, name-calling and emotional button-pushing.

And those are just the political ads.

The Gazette asked Iowa political scientists, communications experts and psychologists to analyze the tactics used in political ads that have been blistering the Eastern Iowa airwaves. Amid the heartfelt testimonials, mudslinging attacks and goofy spots with national actors are some new strategies for 2014.

“We break down ads looking at verbals, nonverbals and video production style,” explained Dianne Bystrom, director of Iowa State University’s Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics. “Men and women running against each other have adapted styles that are very similar to one another.”

Here are some of the other findings from the article, beginning with my favorite.

Parties prioritize different values

Conservative candidates tend to play up the group mentality more than liberals, said Daryl Cameron, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Iowa. He pointed to Ernst and other Republicans drawing attention to Braley’s gaffe of apparently criticizing veteran U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley for not having a law degree.

“Ernst is trying to push buttons by saying, ‘He (Braley) isn’t one of us, he’s betraying the group,’” Cameron said.

Liberals, on the other hand, tend to emphasize fairness and distribution of resources over other values, he said.

Yes, the major parties really are different.  ideologies and interest groups matter to American political parties, although Duverger's Law mostly limits the choices to two.

What about a factor that transcends party?

When male and female political candidates face off, they talk about a different set of issues than in male-versus-male races, Bystrom said.

Bystrom, who has been studying mixed-gender elections for U.S. Senate that have occurred since 1990, said these races traditionally have focused more on education, Social Security and health care. An all-male race might include more discussion of war and crime.

The economy, she said, has become gender neutral.

The sexes are different, too.

The article includes more findings, such as why negative ads work, how fear and disgust play a part in politics (see the video at the end of Food Fight! Thoughts on liberalism and conservatism inspired by the Preface to Food, Inc. for how these work better on conservatives), and how a dialog of sorts can be achieved with campaign ads.  It also offers this helpful note.

If the negative ads are getting you down, take heart. As we get closer to the Nov. 4 election, Iowans should see the return of the positive ads, experts said.

And after Election Day, we’ll get back to the usual commercials using psychology to sell us cars, prescription drugs and junk food.

To say nothing of getting us to buy Christmas presents.  Ah, the stink of retail desperation!

Follow over the jump for more election stories from campuses on the campaign trail.

Food news for Food Day 2014

A happy Food Day to all of my readers!  To celebrate the day,* I present a linkspam of food news, beginning with Discovery News asking Are Healthy Foods REALLY More Expensive?

Healthy foods: Are they more expensive than foods that are bad for you? Tara takes a look at some recent research that might confirm this theory.

That's a video I should show my class, especially after they've seen 'Food, Inc.'

Now for something a little less serious from Discovery News, The Surprising Benefit Of Reheating Pasta!

There's nothing better than leftover pasta, and now science has a reason to love it even more! Tara reveals some surprising evidence that cold pasta might be good for your diet!

Cool, but I'm not showing this one to my students.

Follow over the jump for food news from the past two months of Overnight News Digest on Daily Kos.

Cybersecurity and Bitcoins for the holidays

I concluded KPBS and others on the ACA for the week of Thanksgivingwith "Speaking of technology and security, I have some items about both for holiday shopping.  Stay tuned."  It's time for this timely advice.

University of Georgia advises that Holiday shopping should include online security steps.
November 26, 2013

Athens, Ga. - Many holiday shopping lists include online purchases, but is that website safe for credit cards? A security proponent at the University of Georgia has some tips for secure online shopping for shoppers making their lists and checking them twice.

"Use your head when doing your online shopping this holiday season," said Laura Heilman, a security awareness and education manager in the university's Enterprise Information Technology Services office. "Do not shop on public Wi-Fi networks or on public computers. And, avoid making purchases directly through links in emails."

Heilman suggests shopping online with a credit card, instead of a debit card.

Next, KPBS takes a technological angle on shopping with Why Some Holiday Shoppers Are Spending Bitcoin This Black Friday By David Wagner.
Friday, November 29, 2013

Bitcoin—the currency of choice for buying illegal goods online—has cultivated quite the bad-boy image. But some entrepreneurs believe a wholesome makeover could take this unregulated digital currency mainstream, and what could be more wholesome than holiday shopping?

On Black Friday, Bitcoin boosters are urging shoppers to ditch their credit cards and open up their Bitcoin wallets. And shoppers like David Allison are doing just that. He's been giving a lot of thought to what he'll buy for his wife this Christmas.

"My wife and I are expecting a baby in March," he says. "And I know she loves the concept of nesting."

Follow over the jump for more about technology and security.

Condoms and Florence Nightingale plus other health news

I bet those are two topics most readers didn't expect to see together.  Just the same, they are the two top news items this month based on my preference of "if it moves, it leads."  Also, since sex sells, the news about condoms goes first.

Discovery News: Birth Cowtrol: Human Condoms Made From Cows?

Bill Gates challenged inventors to revolutionize the condom, and they delivered! Laci Green reports on their creations, including the condom made from cow parts. And no, we're not joking.

One of the stories I included in Overnight News Digest: Science Saturday (MAVEN to Mars) was about one of the grant winners.

University of Tennessee: Professor Receives Gates Foundation Award to Reinvent Condom, Improve Global Health
November 20, 2013

Condoms have the power to make the world healthier by preventing disease and unplanned pregnancies, yet they are vastly underutilized.

This year, Bill and Melinda Gates and their foundation issued a challenge to develop the next generation of condoms. Called Grand Challenges in Global Health, the initiative aims to foster scientific and technological innovation to solve key health problems in the developing world.

Jimmy Mays, a chemistry professor at UT, responded to the challenge with a design that will encourage condom use in developing countries. He has received $100,000 from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for research and development of a prototype.

Next, the University of Alabama, Birmingham shows its YouTube followers Florence Nightingale exhibit honors founder of modern day nursing.

Florence Nightingale left countless gifts to her profession, including a collection of 50 letters and more preserved in the UAB Historical Collections. Copies of these are on permanent exhibit in the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Nursing.

Here's the press release: UAB dean’s paper highlights Nightingale’s leadership for global health and nursing.
By Tyler Greer
Friday, November 22, 2013

The University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Nursing is home to a one-of-its-kind, interactive exhibit of 50 famous Florence Nightingale letters. School of Nursing Dean Doreen C. Harper, Ph.D., analyzed the components of these letters, which highlight Nightingale’s visionary leadership for global health and nursing within the historical context of Great Britain’s colonization of India.

The result of this analysis was the paper “Leadership Lessons in Global Nursing and Health from the Nightingale Letter Collection at the University of Alabama at Birmingham,” recently published in the Journal of Holistic Medicine. The descriptive study used a narrative analysis to examine selected letters that Nightingale wrote to or about Dr. Thomas Gillham Hewlett, a physician and health officer in Bombay, India.

“Florence Nightingale is indisputably the founder of modern nursing,” Harper said. “Nightingale also was a prominent force in the creation of global health care and global nursing. To this day, these letters offer countless leadership lessons relevant to the future of nursing and health care. It was a joy to study these letters and try to increase understanding of her visionary leadership for global nursing and health.”

Follow over the jump for more of last week's health news from campuses on the campaign trail.

Special elections and runoffs change health news sources

At the end of Health news from the University of Cincinnati, I told my readers to "Stay tuned for the material I did use this past weekend."  Here it is, the health research and outreach news from Overnight News Digest: Science Saturday (Dog origins) on Daily Kos, which featured the research and outreach stories from the states of Alabama, Arkansas, California, Iowa, Louisiana, and Wisconsin, and the city of San Diego.

Two videos from the University of Alabama, Birmingham, begin this report.  First, UAB's Michael Morrisey talks health care premiums, which explains the subsidy structure under the Affordable Care Act.


Next, Safety first at 30,000 feet or at 60 mph shows the training program for the nurses and others who transport patients on UAB's helicopter fleet.

Members of UAB's Critical Care Transport team — ICU nurses, respiratory therapists, nurse practitioners and physicians — participate in a drill about safety procedures in the event something goes wrong on a flight.

Follow over the jump for the rest of the health care news from last week.

Educational fun with balls

Since I can't be all DOOM all the time, or even all hope about saving ourselves from DOOM, I present these two moments of educational fun with balls.  First, Rutgers University puts on The Tennis Ball Games.

What do you know about the economic principle of diminishing marginal product? Rutgers Professor Rosanne Altshuler gave her students 30 seconds to figure it out on a real-life assembly line complete with tennis balls. Take a look.

Next, Iowa State University shows us Learning the mathematics behind juggling at Iowa State

Math 595: Mathematics of Juggling. It's a new course offered at Iowa State this semester and News Service Videographer Alex Murphy visited the class to see how students are learning the science and mathematics behind juggling.

ISU has a press release as well: Math + juggling = better problem-solving tools for ISU students
Posted Nov 14, 2013 8:00 am

AMES, Iowa – Steve Butler casually tosses a ball from his left hand to his right to demonstrate his point that anyone can juggle. With just one ball it’s easy, until he changes it up and adds a second and a third ball to the mix. Still, the assistant professor of mathematics at Iowa State University says the secret to juggling is simple – it’s all about patterns.

“Anyone can juggle,” Butler said. “There are certain juggling patterns that everyone has mastered, they just don’t realize it. They are so simple that people overlook them as juggling, but they are the basic building blocks to form more interesting patterns.”

Those patterns provide the foundation for Butler’s class this fall about the mathematics of juggling. The two topics have a lot in common because mathematics is the science of studying patterns and juggling is the art of controlling patterns, Butler said. The purpose of the class is to help students understand the different patterns involved in juggling using math.

Two dance interludes on campus they're not, but they look like just as much fun in the service of getting students to learn serious intellectual concepts.  I approve.