The resident faculty hopped along their weekly trek this morning. They looked ridiculous, so we hope this was a clue and not a new tradition. (More)

The resident faculty usually walk, or wobble, as they make their way from the wine cellar library where they spend the weekend drinking thinking on our motto of Magis vinum, magis verum (“More wine, more truth”) to the hot tub faculty lounge for their weekly game where the underwear goes flying planning conference. This morning they hopped. Gastronomic concern prevents further description. Suffice it to say: be glad you didn’t see it, and we hope it’s not the start of a new tradition. Instead, we think it was a clue.

Things have been hopping at BPI lately. For example, last Monday and Wednesday in Evening Focus, rb137 explored what physicists know about the universe, and how they know it. Last Tuesday and Wednesday in Morning Feature, Professor of Topofclassclownistics JanF Dug Deeper into free speech issues. And last Tuesday in Evening Focus, JanF hosted our live-blog of President Obama’s State of the Union Address. All were good discussions and are worth reading if you missed them.

And things will keep hopping at the BPI campus this week. Starting tonight in Evening Focus, Roby NJ will host a three-day series on how cognitive dissonance shapes our political dialogue. This Tuesday and Wednesday in Morning Feature, Professor of Bathtublueberrywhisperology addisnana will Dig Deeper into the urban/rural political divide. And Thursday and Friday in Evening Focus, HurrikanEagle will host a two-day series on Kentucky House Bill 208, which would mandate drug and alcohol screening for people who receive state aid, in defiance of a 2008 federal court decision. As always, Chef will brighten the room with coffee and bagels, and the Professor of Astrology Janitor will brighten the floor with his cleaners and buffer.

Note: At present, we have no Morning Feature guest lectures scheduled for next Tuesday or Wednesday (February 8th and9th). Evening Focus is full this week, but we have openings next Monday through Friday (February 7th to 11th). We also have openings for our campus soapbox Furthermore!, our afternoon people-watching series Midday Matinee, and our evening environmental series Our Earth.

If you are already a BPI Author, you will find a complete list of category openings in the Authors Notepad in your Dorm Room. To reserve a slot, type in your user name, topic, and date, and click “Save Notes.” I will remove your note when I add you to our Schedule.

If you are not yet a BPI Author and would like to contribute at BPI, please contact the BPI Webmistress.

Also: Please share your stories of offline activism in Things We Did This Week.

That leaves the distressing specter of the resident faculty hopping around. Maybe they were simply delighted that the campus has been hopping (as noted above). Maybe they plan to institute a new Institute tradition (perish the thought). Or maybe they thought hopping looked better than leaning on each other like adjacent parentheses – )( – (it didn’t).

But the staff have decided it was a clue. Specifically, we think they plan to hop around from one topic to another this week, touching on miscellaneous ideas that never quite fit into and won’t quite fill up a series.

At least that’s what we hope. In fact, we hope it so much that Chef offered a plate of pasta to the Flying Spaghetti Monster, just in case. Because if the resident faculty hopping is a new tradition, the staff will need much darker sunglasses … even at night.

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Happy Monday!