uni nicknames - Movie Excitement - LOL - Merch - Aunts & Aunts - Halloween

[Catlady (Rita Prince Winston)]

Joywitch wrote:

> Here in the US we almost always refer to schools by "particular" 
> nicknames.  For example, the University of California is always 
> called UCLA, but the University of California at Berkeley is NEVER 
> called UCB -- for some reason it's always refered to as "Cal.")

Someone already explained that Berkeley gets the honor being called 
Cal (or sometimes UC, which is also University of Chicago) because 
originally it was the only campus. Amusingly, my college alumnae 
newsletter has rules about how it abbreviates uni names: U/, and the 
postal abbrew for states, causing amusing references to people being 
awarded PhDs from U/CA or getting jobs at U/CA-Los Angeles.

Cal's team is named the Golden Bears because the Golden Bear (a 
subspecies of grizzly) is the state mammal. It was extinct before it 
was named state mammal, altho' not yet extinct when first put on the 
Bear Flag. IIRC the last specimen died of extreme old age in a zoo in 
1923 and the species had become extinct in the wild by 1900.

Cindy wrote:

> How enthusiastic is everyone about the movie, on a scale of 1-10?
> 10 would be perhaps planning to see the very first possible 
> showing, maybe already having tickets, maybe going multiple times. 

Because of this list, I'm making plans to go to the movie twice on 
opening day with people from this list, possibly in costume. Still, I 
rate myself only a 6, because I haven't watched any of the trailers 
and I would be waiting at least a week for the crowd to die down if 
it wasn't for this list. On the other hand, I haven't gone to a movie 
theatre in years -- the last time I went to a movie theatre 
voluntarily was to see SHADOW OF A RAVEN, so planning to go to a 
theatre at all is pretty damn excited!

Neil wrote:

> Isn't "Dogman" the proposed retitling of "Prisoner of Azkaban,"
> with a view to increasing its popularity among bored teenagers?:

ROTFL!

invizible ~Amber ? wrote:

> They'd probably stick poor Sirius in high-top sneakers with a "Bad 
> To The Bone" leather jacket and multi-colored hair.

Which would be Totally Accurate if he were 20 years younger. Maybe 
even 15.

Michelle wrote:

> apparently firefighters are supposed to have much more manly things 
> on their beds ... like my driver who has dalmations and fire > 
hydrants ..... 

When a woman has manly things on her bed, don't people ask if that is 
her way of trying to lure men there, by making them feel at home?

Jen wrote:

> a final 20-page paper in college about why she calls her aunts on
> her mother's side Auntie Such-and-Such and her aunts on her 
> father's side Aunt So-and-So) 

I know a woman in Massachusetts who calls her aunts on her mother's 
side (the MA side) Aaahnt So-and-So and her aunts on her father's 
side (the KY side) Aint So-and-So.

Jenny from Ravenclaw wrote:

> In the witchy spirit of HP, I was curious to know what kinds of
> plans people have for Halloween.

While my housemates are going to a Samhain Sabbat worship and shocked 
that I am not coming along, I was going to put on an ordinary black 
dress and my witchy hat from a costume shop and go to my friend's 
house to help hand out candy to little goblins (and she was going to 
bake me a chocolate cake for my birthday because I WILL BE IN NEW 
YORK CITY on my actual birthday Nov 7) but then suddenly I got a 
flyer (not by Owl Post, alas) from UCLA Archaeology department about 
a public lecture evening of 10/31 about Origins of the Old Kingdom 
(that's Kemet - Ta-Meri - Ancient Egypt) and I WILL GO because I was 
already sulking about missing the lecture on Egyptian Ships and 
Shipbuilding on Nov 8 because of being in NYC. I am a bigger nut on 
Kemet than on HP! However, I am debating whether to wear my excellent 
cat tail and pathetic cat ears with my work clothes to work and then 
the lecture that day.

> On Wednesday we have a special schedule because most students in
> NYC public schools stay home on Halloween.

Why do they stay home?

Simon wrote:

> For the Brits:
> Remember the clocks go back an hour tonight and so we all get an
> extra hour to do with as we please (sleep in my case). Especially
> good for those of us that have to be up at 7:30am tomorrow :) 

USAmericans too. Once again Daylight Savings Time ends at the same 
time as Summer Time.