A quickie for tonight: just saw in my alumni newsletter that Lou Bloomfield, UVA Physics professor famous for his “How Things Work” class and textbook (as well as for developing algorithms to bust plagiarized term papers) is going to be co-hosting the TV show “Some Assembly Required” on the Discovery Channel. Some star professors are born famous, some achieve fame, and some have fame thrust upon them, I suppose. Or thrust themselves upon fame.
Day: November 28, 2007
Shades of Soering: UVA undergrads arrested for kidnapping
As if the loss to Va Tech wasn’t bad enough, now this: University students charged with abduction (see also WaPo article). This is the definitive proof that curriculum standards at UVA are relaxing; back in my day toolies wouldn’t have had time to go to Northern Virginia, much less to kidnap someone and hold them for ransom!
I note also, with some amusement, that the students managed to find the one sketchy motel in Falls Church in which to keep their victim. The Stratford was just across Rt 7 and a little down the street from the apartments my wife lived in before we got married, so I know the area pretty well. It’s totally the sort of place you’d expect to show up in an episode of Law & Order.
Hat tip to Greg Greene for the initial email alerting me to this development, which also provided the Jens Soering connection (Google him, but make sure to look at some of the results that aren’t actually written by him).