Is it time for a change at Indiana University?

Nah, probably not.

The Department of Central Eurasian Studies, part of Indiana University's School of Global and International Studies, is doing quite well under the supervision of acting department chair Toivo Raun. Raun and his counterparts bring out the best in these student non-athletes, and never a teaching moment is missed.

Early favorites in the department's Eurasia Madness competition include power forward Piibi-Kai Kivik (Lecturer and Language Program Coordinator, Estonian Language) and shooting guard Shahyar Daneshgar (Senior Lecturer, Persian and Azerbaijani Languages), although defensive specialist Tserenchunt Legden (Senior Lecturer, Mongolian Language) is considered a dark horse, and the one yurt no one wants to play.

All of which is my way of making two points.

1. Indiana University is a school that happens to have a basketball team, and not the other way around.

2. If I knew then what I know now, this would have been my department.

About the Department of Central Eurasian Studies

Central Eurasia, the home of some of the world's greatest art, epic literature, and empires, is the vast heartland of Europe and Asia extending from Central Europe to East Asia and from Siberia to the Himalayas. The Department of Central Eurasian Studies at Indiana University took its present name in 1993. It was founded as an Army Specialized Training Program for Central Eurasian languages in 1943, then formally organized as the Program in Uralic and Altaic Studies (from 1956 to 1965) and later the Department of Uralic and Altaic Studies (from 1965 to 1993). The Department has long been one of the world's leading centers of academic expertise on Central Eurasia as well as the sole independent degree-granting academic unit staffed with its own faculty of specialists.

The Eurasian heartland, which has played a seminal role in the development of both Europe and Asia, is still insufficiently explored by modern scholars. The Department of Central Eurasian Studies offers a unique area studies program, emphasizing language proficiency and a thorough grounding in indigenous cultures. Our program provides students with the means to study in depth a region of specialization in the Central Eurasian area through mastery of one or more languages as well as the history and culture of a given region by means of a multidisciplinary approach. The graduate degree program combines two key features: (1) a Language of Specialization (LOS), which gives students access to the chosen culture through the voices of its people; and (2) a Region of Specialization (ROS), which includes courses on various aspects of the chosen culture. In addition, while becoming familiar with various disciplinary approaches to the study of Central Eurasia, students are strongly encouraged to provide depth to their studies by thoroughly assimilating the methodology of a single discipline. The undergraduate degree program allows students to pursue one of two tracks: (1) Language and Civilization Track; and (2) Central Eurasian Track. The Department's programs offer exciting possibilities for study and research as well as wide-ranging opportunities for careers in academia, government, and international business.

Irv still nutzoid, and Gilderbloom's research wasted on New Albany -- and Greg Fischer, for that matter.

In a phrase that might serve as New Albany's official civic motto, no one really wants to talk about it, but a few weeks back, when Dr. Gilderbloom's most recent streets research project started being picked up by national media, Irv Stumler apparently visited the University of Louisville to demand that Gilderbloom be silenced, because how dare peer-reviewed academic research be allowed to deny the sanctity of New Albany's 18-wheeled Luddite exceptionalism?

Depending on the report, Stumler either was laughed off campus or curtly told that if he didn't take a chill pill, he would be forcibly removed.

Calm down, Irv: "Why one-way streets are bad for everyone but speeding cars."

This episode occurred around the same time that Stumler, a self-anointed civic pillar of propriety, was lurching from door to door downtown, foaming at the mouth, spinning colossal untruths about the dastardly effects of two-way (complete) streets and traffic calming.

Irv Stumler peddles humongous whoppers, feels no shame at all, insults entire city.

By this point, he'd already been at it for a while.

Irv Stumler launches new Jolly Rancher bombardment in his jihad against modernity.

Now that the erstwhile Republican and current Democratic mayoral candidate David White has crawled into bed with the likes of Stumler, who four years ago when smitten with Doug England just couldn't recall which way he swings politically, we're asked to come on out and celebrate the virtues of municipal value extraction, with a diesel fuel chaser.

David White wants all NA merchants standing to be harmed by Padgett's lawsuit to attend a David White party at Padgett.

And Gilderbloom? He's still at it, apparently enjoying the luxury of dealing with facts, as opposed to reflex bile emissions. Keep reading to learn who is even less enamored of Gilderbloom than Stumler.

U of L professor John Gilderbloom gains national notice for one-way street research, by David Serchuk (Insider Louisville)

University of Louisville professor John Gilderbloom has just seen his national profile rise dramatically via a story about him and his research in The Washington Post.
The story — titled “Why one-way streets are bad for everyone but speeding cars” — highlights research conducted by Gilderbloom, the director of the U of L’s Center for Sustainable Urban Neighborhoods, and William Riggs, an assistant professor from the California Polytechnic State University. Their research centers around the thesis that two-way streets in residential neighborhoods are safer, boost housing values, and are less prone to crime than one-way streets.

Cutting all the way to the chase ...

Gilderbloom tells Insider Louisville that Mayor Greg Fischer has given him the cold shoulder when it comes to his research. He says he’s invited the mayor to speak to his graduate students in urban and public affairs at U of L — as former Mayors Jerry Abramson and David Armstrong did — and was told by the mayor’s office that Fischer wasn’t available.

“He won’t speak to me,” Gilderbloom says, “nor will several top officials there.” He claims it’s because his research runs counter to Fischer’s growth-focused ideology.

Desperate search for local analogies as Greenwood's water park is projected to generate a $200,000 shortfall.

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Look ma, it's the first time I've linked to anything pertaining to Brownsville Station since 2009

Here's a submission from diligent daily reader K, who asks:

Hmm, this (Greenwood IN water park) reminds me of the Aquatic Center slated to be built soon in New Albany. Has anyone studied whether or not it will actually stay in the black?

Dear K:

Studied?

Perhaps you forget that in New Albany, study hall is something to be skipped so we all can sneak a smoke in the boy's or girl's room, so no, I don't think it has been studied ... at least not yet, unless of course Erika conducted a study of the girl's room while she was smoking there back in 1943.

However, we do know that the pool will be open a full 94 days a year (thanks to B for this), and for approximately 24 of those days school will be in session (thanks to M) -- and it's only going to cost $10 every time you go for a swim (thanks again to B).

I hope that helps, even as I know it doesn't. I miss Cub Koda.

Greenwood expects $200,000 shortfall to operate water park, by Vic Ryckaert (IndyStar)

Greenwood leaders will consider design changes, partnerships and advertising to offset an estimated $200,000 annual operating loss on the $10 million water park due to open next year.