By Teri Bachman

QUITE A CLIP

Everyone would like to be the best at something. Dan Meyer ’03, Cred. ’04, is fortunate to have already found his niche. The recent UC Davis graduate, who has wanted to break a world record since high school, says that he knew that he could do something mundane for 24 hours. And he did. Earlier this year, Meyer claimed the world record for the longest paperclip chain made by an individual in 24 hours. Averaging a clip every 1.6 seconds, Meyer linked 54,030 to create a 5,340-foot chain, besting a previous world record by almost 2,500 feet. For the feat, he received a certificate from Guinness, signed by the “Keeper of the Records.”

Meyer had attempted the challenge last year but was defeated when his chain, which he had wound around a wooden spool, became hopelessly tangled. “We didn’t use anything to separate the layers,” he said. “I don’t know how that got by quality control.” This year, wax paper between the layers made all the difference.

Is the world just a little brighter now that he’s broken the record? “Well, no, it was actually rather anticlimactic,” he says, especially since he had unofficially broken the record last year. He knew the minute after that failed attempt that he’d give it another go. “There was never a choice in my mind. I remember being out there on the blacktop last year, having just failed, knowing there was no way we going to unroll the stupid thing.” But he didn’t tell his assistants right away. “You don’t drag them through that and say, ‘Hey, same time, same place, next year.’”

For more details about the feat, visit Web site paperclipchallenge.com.

FLAMING THE FANS

Instead of extinguishing fires, the UC Davis Fire Department’s old 1973 fire engine will soon be lighting ’em: Beginning this fall, the department’s surplus Firecoach Crown Pumper will be used by the Aggie Pack to fire up fans at sporting events. Purchased for $5,000 with funds allocated by ASUCD, the engine will be painted blue and gold and used to promote school spirit at games, during athletes’ visits to local elementary schools and at other campus events, says Greg Ortiz ’03, athletics assistant promotions coordinator.

The purchase was Ortiz’s idea—he had seen the engine listed for sale by Bargain Barn, a campus unit that handles the sale of surplus items from computers to, well, fire engines. And Ortiz knew a bargain when he saw it. He enlisted the aid of the ASUCD president and vice president, who authored a bill with him authorizing its purchase.

Ortiz is now looking forward to getting behind the wheel of this big boy. He’s one of several Aggie Packers who will be getting their special class B license allowing them to drive the engine to events where it will no longer be pumping water at flames, but firing tube socks at fans.

DYING BREED

Pay phones are nearly a thing of the past. This year, the campus removed 82 of its 119 payphones because the cost to maintain them surpassed the money they made. Some additional emergency and courtesy phones were added in strategic locations around campus. And of course, the ubiquitous cell phone means that students never have to talk tethered.

BIG GULP

Bigger is not always better and super size isn’t, say some in the campus community who are not happy with new soda machines on campus. The university recently switched to dispensers that carry resealable 20-ounce Coca-Cola containers, instead of the 12-ounce pull-tab variety. Critics, like engineering professor Mont Hubbard, bemoan the extra cost and calories.

But campus coffers are swelling, too. In exchange for giving Coca-Cola exclusive rights to vending machine sales, athletic events and some special events (but not rights to all campus beverage sales), the campus will receive $150,000 a year, plus commissions on sales—a significant infusion of funds that will support intercollegiate athletics and such student services as the bookstore, coffeehouse and student housing. Said Bob Franks, Student Affairs associate vice chancellor, “This is the inevitable consequence of the decline of state funding. If the state were adequately funding higher education, we wouldn’t have to seek alternative funding sources.”

Weight gain? It’s the real thing.

HOMETOWN HERO

She’s a familiar face on campus and well known among researchers for her more than two decades of study about the brain’s role in menopause. Now Phyllis Wise, professor of neurobiology and physiology and dean of the Division of Biological Sciences, has been introduced to the entire country. Wise and her research team were featured on the cover of Parade magazine—which goes to 78 million readers. She was selected as one of six “quiet heroes” whose “passion and tenacity bring about the breakthroughs that change our lives.”