TV news

So, a few weeks ago, a strange thing happened here. The university installed satellite dishes onto our apartments, and now we have free satellite TV. We get the basic package, which includes the three Israeli stations, CNN, National Geographic, ESPN, Eurosport, a network of spanish-language telenovelas (soaps or dramas) and a few non-premium movie channels.. This has resulted in several interesting social dynamics. The first thing was a rush for TVs, since they didn't provide those. Next, was a whole lot of hermit-like behavior, as people explored what they could watch. This has also resulted in a decrease in attendance at the weekly movie showing. On the other hand, there is still the occasional major TV event. There are some interprising guys who have managed to get a digital projector (like the ones used for PowerPoint presentations), and a large screen. they tend to have showings of sports events, like the recent UEFA cup (European soccer) final, which, if you missed it, was a great game. Now, you might ask why the university would spring for satellite TV, and you wouldn't be the only one. No one here is entirely sure. Most think that it is to make up for the fact that the apartments are bloody cold in the winte. We all complained about that a lot, but mostly got a brush-off. Some particulary cynical students are convinced that after 6 months, we will have to pay for the service. We all thought it was a bit strange that we get satellite TV, but are prohibited from putting heaters in the place, etc. I've been enjoying the BBC, and the Sports channels. I got to see the Giro di Italia, and now they are showing a lot of the French Open tennis tournament. And of course, a steady stream of great films, like "Mars Attacks" and "Eight Legged Freaks". There are also some interesting, Israeli influences on the TV. For example, on the recent Holocaust Memorial Day holiday, most channels showed programs related to WWII, and for the Israeli Independence Day, nearly every station broadcast a picture of a rose, with a message in Hebrew. There was much grumbling among the non-Israeli students about that.

In the non-TV world, things are really humming around here. I'm frantically trying to get the lizard experiments finished before I go to South Africa. It looks like I'll make it, but just barely. I did manage to catch 2 of the 3 lizards with dataloggers implanted from the Fall, so we'll have some data from them. We were lucky that we were able to take observations on one of those for a whole day, so we may have enough for a small publication, though our sample size is certainly small. I'm pretty eager to see what their temperatures were. Those also have a bonus for us because I can record their temperatures in the lab, for the digestion experiments. Quite nice actually.