Archive: Around Town

For 100 years, Cornell's Fuertes Observatory has been wowing students – and the Ithaca community – with galactic wonders.

To ensure that Fuertes' gifts keep giving for another century, the Cornell Astronomical Society is launching a crowdfunding campaign to raise money for renovations. The campaign kicks off with the annual Yuri's Night event, this year on Friday, April 14, from 7 p.m. to midnight at the observatory. The evening will feature "astronaut food," tours of the museum and observatory, and, if the night is clear, astronomical observing. There will also be a talk by Lisa Kaltenegger, associate professor of astronomy and director of Cornell's Carl Sagan Institute.

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Islamic Community Outreach Services is pleased to announce its open house session for the month of April. We welcome you to join us for an opportunity to meet Muslims and enjoy conversation, bring questions, have discussion, and more. We will plan to host the event this coming Saturday April 1st, between 1:00 and 3:00 PM at the Moosalla Noor, 111 East Seneca Street in downtown Ithaca across from the Dewitt Mall.

As always, please feel free to contact us if you have any questions at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

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Dear Margaret: I'm a photography major at a two-year college. My grades are above average, I get along very well with people overall, I have close friends, and participate in sporting activities where my team work is appreciated. My problem is that I have one professor who has taken an apparent dislike to me. She ridicules my answers openly in class and gives me poor grades on assignments. My fellow students are aware of this and are telling me that they don't know why she reacts to me in this way. I think they are telling me the truth when they say my work is good quality. I've only known this woman for about six weeks, negating the possibility that I have some sort of history with her. This frustrates and angers me, and I spend too much time thinking about it. I've tried my best to get in her good graces, without success. She has the ability to mess with my GPA, and it seems there's nothing I can do about it. I need help coping.
Not a Picture Perfect Relationship

The Lakewatch Inn was filled Friday as around 110 sports fans flocked to the annual CDC (Corporate Development Committee) dance. This year, the CDC, Lansing's tech booster club, teamed with the Sports Booster Club for a sports-themed dance that raised $23,629 (so far, as of this writing) that the club is hoping will pay for 30 new iPads, 30 new Chromebooks, and a cart for the fourth grade that will facilitate each students to have their own Chromebook.

As always the dress dode was theme based. Attendees were encouraged to wear a sports jersey, or casual clothes. The event featured a local band, a DJ, photo booth, local sports celebrities, a casino and sports-themed games, food and drink, an online auction, and NCAA basketball on TV. Free child care was provided by Lansing High School seniors so parents could enjoy their night out.

The weekend of March 24-26, Ithaca High School's student robotics team, Code Red Robotics, travelled to Suffern, NY, where they competed against 47 other FIRST teams from across the world. In an alliance of two other teams, Code Red won the Hudson Valley regional competition, qualifying them for World Championships in St. Louis, April 26-29.

Code Red Robotics is an Ithaca High School student club, and one of over 3,000 teams that compete in the high-school division of FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology). Each year, FIRST releases a game-like challenge for all high-school robotics teams in the world. The teams have six weeks from that day to build a 120 lb. robot to compete in the game.

Diane Cohen, executive director of Finger Lakes ReUse recently accepted an eChievement Award from eTown, one of the most successful and widely distributed radio shows in the U.S., carried on 300 stations every week and podcast worldwide.

eTown’s presentation of the award will be broadcast on eTown Radio Show Broadcast # 17134 to an estimated one million listeners on March 29th to April 4th. The broadcast will be carried locally on WRFI (88.1 FM Ithaca and 91.9 FM Watkins Glen), WITH (90.1 FM) and WSKG on its local repeater stations WSQG (90.9 FM), WINO (89.9 FM), and WSQE (91.1 FM). It will also be available on the eTown podcast, website or iTunes App Store.

by Emily Selland

Hi there, my name is Buddy, and aren't I just the sweetest dog you've ever seen?! I was brought here from another local shelter where I arrived there as a stray. Everyone here thinks I'm a great dog and I just want a nice, quiet home, where I can spend the day sitting by your side. I've been told that I am quite active for a ten year old and would still enjoy meandering walks around the neighborhood with my new owners. Similar to most dogs my age, I'm a little slower on some days and get nervous about being handled if I'm feeling sore. I'm in great spirits though, and know that my perfect quiet person will be in to bring me home soon. Do I sound like the perfect mellow new pup for you? If so, come in and meet me today!

Visit the SPCA Web Page

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Meat Lovers, Beware - you won't be able to keep from coming back!

Philly is a city of amazing contrasts and surprises. Three minutes' drive brings you into other worlds, from skyscrapers to woods, to meandering creeks that appear untouched since the Indians (excuse me, Native Americans) lived here. A nature center that sells keepsakes at 1/5 the price of the tourist stores, Broad Street where the Flyer's play, and everything in between. I don't think wheat fields are in the mix though, but I could be wrong.

About a dozen people came to the Lansing Town Hall Tuesday to learn about heating and cooling their homes with heat pumps. The gathering was one of a series of meetings being held around Tompkins County to interest homeowners in participating in the HeatSmart home energy program. HeatSmart Tompkins Director Jonathan Comstock gave a presentation, followed by presentations by three of the program's partner contractors, and attendees had opportunities to meet with the contractors and have their questions answered.

"These are discounted prices," Comstock says. "The purpose of them is to get people to feel this is the time to do it. Not everybody has to have signed a contract by the end of enrollment. You just have to have said 'I want to be in the game' by then. 'I have some interest.' There is no cost and no obligation to doing that. You have all the way to the end of July to have your home assessed and get a proposal from the installers, and maybe have some conversations back and forth and really come to a decision."

So you got a new camera. Now what? One of the most popular gifts this past holiday season were new digital cameras. Some little point and shoots, some massive "professional" cameras, and everything in between. I have a great time with cameras of all types, but like Jack Benny said, "It ain't the violin, it's the violinist." A lousy violin player will be just as lousy on a Stradivarius – and an expert can make the $69.95 purple violin from China sing.

It's the same thing with a camera. Cameras don't take pictures, people do. People drive them.

Dear Margaret:  Six months ago my wife and I moved from a small town and are having trouble finding like-minded friends. We came from a relatively conservative thinking location where residents had social and political values that matched our own. We feel like we've landed on Mars in this big city! At business gatherings we feel like we have to keep our mouths shut so as not to offend my more left leaning colleagues. We need advice so we can socialize freely in this new area. People are going to get the idea we are dullards with no opinions. How can we integrate into this community?
Landed on Mars