The Big Digs

QUIZ: THE YEAR IN CANTABRIGIA

Which of the following things actually happened in Cambridge this year?
[a]  The city printed yoga poses on parking tickets in an attempt to soothe penalized violators.
[b]  The city council directed officials to examine the possibility of installing a slide at one of Cambridge’s T stations.
[c]  MIT funded the installation of a dog-poop-powered lamppost in a city park.
[d]  Longtime residents were discovered to be Russian spies, and were deported.
[e]  All of the above, BECAUSE IT’S CAMBRIDGE.
                                                                                                    ANSWER: E

DEBATE: IS UMASS A GOOD SCHOOL? 
No.  On September 5, the Globe runs a story arguing that UMass “remains firmly lodged among the nation’s second-tier state schools.”

Yes.  The Times of London ranks UMass as the 56th-best university in the world; the school takes out a full-page ad in the Globe trumpeting this fact.

Yes?  Globe columnist and UMass alum Kevin Cullen responds, arguing that when you consider things besides intelligence and money, UMass is probably a better place than Harvard.

Yes!  On September 7, more than 300 people gather on the Amherst campus to attempt to set a record by building the world’s longest piece of sushi. They succeed, making a 422-foot-long California roll. The school issues an official release on this great accomplishment.

The verdict? Yes.  Sushi is delicious, and Kevin Cullen doesn’t go there anymore.