How do YOU perceive reuse of wastewater*?

From the inbox:

Dear Sri,

Your manuscript entitled "Water Resources and Wastewater Reuse: Perceptions of Students at The Ohio State University Campus" by Sridhar Vedachalam and Karen M. Mancl has been accepted for publication in The Ohio Journal of Science.

I will send you a formal letter next week.

The journal received my manuscript on July 18, 2011 and accepted it after 3 revisions on Feb 2, 2012. That makes it 6.5 months from submission to acceptance. Normal?

*All water we consume is wastewater treated at some earlier time and place. After all, we all live downstream!

Rangoli at Caroline

Two weeks after the Thanksgiving card-making, colors came to Caroline with the Rangoli activity. I bought three Rangoli patterns and some colors from Columbus. I couldn't get many colors, so I bought a packet of turmeric to add variety.

The kids worked in teams and rotated on the patterns. You can see the results getting better with time - less messy and more variety in colors towards the end. Some of the kids were so into it that their dresses reminded me of Holi, and they didn't want to stop even after it was time to go. Needless to say, the janitors at the school had a tough time getting the stains off the floor (a strong dose of Chlorox finally did the job).

Thanksgiving Card-making

The kids at the Caroline Elementary School in Caroline, NY made hand-painted Thanksgiving cards a week before Thanksgiving, thanks to my co-instructor Nandita Mathur. All of them were lovely, but I only captured these two on my camera:

This one was made by Alina (you can even notice she signed off her name in Hindi, which we had taught all the students to do in the first class).

This really cute one is from Teddy. It says, "I don't eat turkey, but I love corn" and is accompanied by a corn cob on the left, with a supposed representation of two people eating lots of corn on the right.

Fall in the Finger Lakes Region

2011 Big Ten Football: Week 3 Predictions

Predictions for Week 3

Legend: I predict the team in bold to win the game. The home team is listed first, followed by the visiting team.

1. Miami - Ohio State

2. Illinois - Arizona State

3. Notre Dame - Michigan State

4. Nebraska - Washington

5. Northern Illinois - Wisconsin

6. Iowa - Pittsburgh

7. Temple - Penn State

8. Purdue - Southeast Missouri State

9. Army - Northwestern

10. Minnesota - Miami (Ohio)

11.Indiana - South Carolina State

12. Michigan - Eastern Michigan

Season prediction: 7-5 (.583)

Impact of Tropical Storm Lee on Fall Creek

Fall Creek at the Beebe Lake in Cornell University campus (Ithaca, NY)

On Sep 8, after getting nearly 5 inches of rain in 2 days (Photo credit: Cornell Chronicle Online):

The same location, 2 weeks ago:

2011 Big Ten Football: Week 2

This week was quite rocky for the Big Ten teams. Some had blowout wins (Michigan State, Wisconsin), while some were not so lucky (Minnesota, Purdue). Two of the games went down to the wire (Iowa, Michigan). Let's see how they fared, and how well my predictions worked.

Legend: The team in bold was predicted to be the winner ahead of the game. Blue indicates a correct prediction, while Red indicates the prediction was not realized. The home team is listed first, followed by the visiting team.

1. Michigan State - Florida Atlantic

2. Ohio State - Toledo

3. Wisconsin - Oregon State

4. Iowa State - Iowa

5. Illinois - South Dakota

6. Northwestern - Eastern Illinois

7. Minnesota - New Mexico State

8. Penn State - Alabama

9. Rice - Purdue

10. Indiana - Virginia

11. Nebraska - Fresno State

11. Michigan - Notre Dame

Prediction result: 7-5 (.583)

AID Welcome Party this Saturday