Drew Carey, host of The Price is Right, gives an Armed with Science shout-out during CES 2010.

Last night, I was reading through the January edition of Discover Magazine, which chronicles the 100 Top Science Stories of 2009, when I made quite a discovery (pun intended): a story written by our very own Darlene Cavalier placed #69! Darlene’s piece, “Prize-Driven Research Takes Off,” focuses on the growing number of organizations offering prizes for successful science and technology innovations. The article should be released online in the next few weeks, and we’ll make sure to post it here.

Congratulations Darlene! What an honor!

Last week, I saw Jason Alexander in the upper west side of New York City waiting to be seated for brunch in what can only be described as the most weather-inappropriate clothing I have seen in my entire life. What an authentic New York City moment!

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This Pepsi commercial starring Jimmy Fallon and Parker Posey is perhaps my favorite commercial of all time for reasons that include but are not limited to:

1. The background music, “Steamline” by Newton, comes with a mandatory 10-day period in which one cannot stop whistling the tune.

2. Jimmy Fallon’s dance moves look exactly how my dance moves would look if I were dancing through a crowded city street. Ironically, I’ve spent a ridiculous amount of time trying to emulate his elbow maneuver at the :59 mark and have yet to figure it out. I’m pretty sure it’s impossible. Seriously, try it. Impossible.

–When Screech gives Zack some of his imported chocolates (remember Zack later gives the “Chocolate Covered Grasshoppers” and “Caramel Caterpillars” to Mr. Belding in a sinister plot to get out of class) to Zack, and says, “Afghanistan makes the best chocolate covered grasshoppers!”. I wonder if they actually do….

–Throughout the episode, characters refer to the day as “Ditch Day” or ”Senior Ditch Day” or “Cut Day” with no consistency at all. In response to A.C.’s challenge to skip out on every class, Zack proclaims himself as “The King of Ditch Day”. Assuming Zack is a senior only once during the show, and if the day is called “Senior Ditch Day”, how could he possibly be the “King”? This would be his first time experiencing ditch day.

–The scene on the beach when A.C. Slater is rubbing lotion on Kelly because her shoulders are “burning up”. This was most uncomfortable sexual tension on screen since Jodi Foster and Richard Gere shared a kiss in Somersby

–Jesse and her fellow student council friend Graham protesting for “No Foam Plastic Cups” in an attempt to “Save the World”. What I don’t understand is why Graham plays such an important role in this show–offering such profound statements as “Two people can make a difference. It only takes a spark to start a fire!”–and then disappears from the face of the earth and is never heard from in another episode.

–Mrs. Cullpepper, their visually-challenged teacher looking in the wrong direction when Zack calls her name. From neuroanatomy class, we know that bad vision would not cause her to look the wrong way because that would fall under the audio-visual reflexes category, which is oh by the way, controlled in part by the Tectospinal tract.

–Again Mrs. Cullpepper, who begins her geography lesson by saying ” Nairobi is here”. After looking closer she realizes she’s pointing to the wrong place, and says, “Next to Las Vegas??”. What is even funnier is that she’s actually pointing at San Diego. Why would her bad vision cause her to have a poor understanding of language? Wouldn’t she still read “Las Vegas” as saying “Las Vegas”?

–Back to the Student Council meeting… How did Zack get voted in with such a bad attitude and general disinterest in academia?

–The scene in the movie theatre where Kelly hugs A.C. because “it was a really scare scene in the movie”. Does anyone else wonder why the movie theatre seats are none other than fold out patio chairs?

I need to go to the store really quick, but I promise to write more later…

* Movie Quote of the Day: “Every man dies, but not every man really lives!”