I live above a bar.  This has lots of practical uses as you might imagine.  One of them is that instead of having to watch the Super Bowl I was able to gauge how things were going based on the level of jubilation discernible through my windows/walls/floor.  This year I couldn’t work up the interest to sit through the game.  My dad’s a Dolphins man, which means I’m a Dolphins man.  This also means that I’ll probably never, ever have a reason to watch the Superbowl unless I am somehow transported back in time to 1972.  I was tempted to check it out just to see what Madonna was up to but even the Material Girl couldn’t convince me to head downstairs.  A friend of mine called her halftime show something like the Lion King as performed by the Queen Alien from Aliens so I think I made the wise choice.

Besides – the Superbowl was really the minor battle this week after the Susan G. Komen Foundation announced it was going to cease its funding to Planned Parenthood.  Tony Picciano broke the news here on the Commons.  Within hours Komen found themselves in a fantastic mess of terrible PR.  Alyson Vogel, blogging at Lehman Faculty Professional Development, linked to a great hack that went up on the Komen foundation’s site in protest to the move.  By Tuesday Komen pulled a near about-face on the issue, pledging to allow Planned Parenthood to remain eligible for future grants.  But as fellow Community Facilitator Sarah Morgano pointed out to me – while SGK will allow Planned Parenthood to apply again, there’s no telling if they will continue to award them grants.  Seeing how quickly the many communities affected by this were able to mobilize makes me think that SGK might have some serious reservations about attempting to snub Planned Parenthood in the next round of grants.

If you’re still upset about SOPA/PIPA or ProtectIP or ACTA or what just happened with Komen/Planned Parenthood look no further than the Help Wanted pages.  Scott Voth posted a job listing for Assistant District Manager for Community Board 3.  Ok, I don’t know that being the Assistant District Manager for Community Board 3 will really give you the leverage to fight any of those things I mentioned but you never know…it could be the start of a significant career in politics.  Think about it.

Finally on the Commons this week: The CUNY Math Blog is up and running! Math faculty across the university have been making a digital home on the Commons this year and we’re excited to see their blog up and running.  I’ve always been a little afraid of math, turns out it’s probably because math is all that is saving us for universe destroying contradictions.

On last thing because I just can’t let it go – Newt Gingrich told a crowd of Las Vegas folks that elite “subway riding” New Yorkers were destroying our country.  Yeah, yeah, yeah, buddy – me, that guy with no pants on and these three guys playing Mariachi music are soaking up pizza grease with the Constitution.  “Get outta here” and congratulations to the New York Giants!

Till next week!