Dear Hot Sauce Lover,

Most Cornell Dining eateries use Frank’s Red Hot as a condiment. A few use Tabasco, and one or two use an Asian-style product. The hot sauce condiment in all units are commercial brands. Cornell Dining cooks and chefs who are preparing and cooking often use house made sauces and salsas, however. If you have suggestions for improvements, Cornell Dining staff are always willing to listen and change when they can.

Uncle Ezra   

Dear Skating Enthusiast,

Unfortunately all the closest ice skating rinks are not completely open; however, below are three options that are located in the area.

Cornell's very own Lynah Rink is open Monday to Thursday 12-1PM and Sunday Nights 9-10:30PM. Admissions for week days are $3 and $4 for weekends. Skating rentals are $2 and Cornell I.D. cards must be shown.

Cass Park Rink is open Monday to Friday 8:30AM-5PM, and Saturday to Sunday 2:30-5:15, and has evening sessions Friday and Saturday from 7-10PM. Admission fees are $5 and skating rentals are $3.

The Rink is another skate park and their schedule can be found on their website at http://www.therink.info/NewSite/icetimeCalenders/November2011.html. 

Rice Hill Pond is the closest open-air facility in the area; however, it can only be used once it has frozen over during the winter months. Currently, it is not in use because it is still too warm for the water to freeze. Because the area is not maintained or professionally serviced, it is important to be very careful when skating. Ice does not freeze over evenly and some areas may be thinner than others. Invisible bumps and cracks can form on the ice, so always remember to bring a friend with you so you can look out for one another!

Clinton Square Ice Skating Rink located in downtown Syracuse may be another option. The rink opens during the end weeks of November depending on the whether. Hope this helps!

Uncle Ezra   

Dear Campus Tourist,

That guide’s pointer was exactly right until 2006— when the Cornell Brain Collection public-display case (second floor of Uris Hall, outside the Psych Dept office) was revamped.  Now all the brains on display belonged to humans.

At the time (winter 1997-98) and in the international media spotlight, that pumpkin perched for months atop our iconic McGraw Tower. It was the ultimate college prank— a uniquely Cornelian trifecta of athletic derring-do, engineering enterprise, and locally grown produce. Cornellians traveling anywhere in the world would be asked: Is that pumpkin still up there?

So if the pickled pumpkin piece is not in the display case — and it has not been stored with the rest of the Brain Collection (available for loan to local school science classes, by the way) then where is it?

“Somewhere in the building,” is all Professor Barbara Finlay, official keeper of the Cornell Brain Collection, will say.  She does offer a hint: Academic psychologists have a funny sense of humor.  Some prankster might, for instance, change the label on a jar of pumpkin pulp to read: “Brain of the Department Chairman.”

Uncle Ezra   

Dear Brain Gazer,

The greenish tint to the brain of 19^th Century Ithaca’s infamous criminal-savant, Edward H. Rulloff, is probably due to the combination of preserving solutions used after the murderer was executed in 1871.  This according to Cornell Psych Professor Barbara Finlay, keeper of the Wilder Brain Collection— a small part of which is on public display outside the second floor Uris Hall offices of the Department of Psychology.

Dr. Burt Green Wilder, the former Civil War physician and Cornell faculty member, started collecting (ultimately as many as 1,200 specimens) under the auspices of the Cornell Brain Society in 1889.  Rulloff was hung to death some 18 years before, for the 1870 killing of a store clerk during a botched burglary.

So the provenance of Rulloff’s brain (proclaimed by Dr. Wilder to be the largest known to science) was a little sketchy until it landed in the Stimson Hall laboratory.  Nowadays, all Cornell brains are kept in formalin-saline solution, Prof Finlay certifies.

 The original intent of the Brain Society was to compare brains of “educated and orderly persons” with those of the rest of us — including the decidedly ill-educated and disorderly Edward Rulloff. A man with a notably large head, hypnotic dark eyes and a persuasive gift of gab (in 28 languages and dialects, or so he said) Rulloff was a self-taught, frequently delusional scholar of philology, the structure and history of languages.

Mr. Rulloff had a unique way of funding his research and scholarly writing: He stole things that didn’t belong to him.  Much of his self-education occurred while serving time in places like Sing Sing and the Auburn Penitentiary.

In an enlightened place like Ithaca—nowadays filled to overflowing with sweet people who can’t do enough good things for others— it is almost a relief to know our streets once were haunted by a truly evil character. 

A 20-something convicted embezzler when he arrived here from Canada around 1840, Rulloff taught school in Dryden. He married a 17-year-old student—over her family’s strenuous objections— and subsequently killed the bride and  infant daughter.  He told nosy neighbors his wife and child would be traveling out of town. Which they did, from Lansing to the bottom of Cayuga Lake in a weighted trunk.

The bodies were never found (Rulloff served prison time for abduction, but not for those slayings) and he also was suspected in the poisoning deaths of his sister-in-law and niece. No wonder the family disliked the guy.

Apparently Mr. Rulloff was an effective teacher. While imprisoned in a local jail, he began tutoring the jailor’s son—then turned the lad to a life of crime when he was released, and let the boy drown while trying to escape another crime scene. Then he told the judge his former pupil was the guilty party.  Bad teacher.

If you are still following the Especially Awful Ithacan Tour (Uris Hall, for the brain; Rulloff’s tavern in Collegetown, where the murderer’s boots are on display; Dryden where the teacher wooed his victim-to-be; the cellar of Rogue’s Harbor Inn in Lansing, where he was temporarily imprisoned because the jail was full; and the chilly depths of Cayuga Lake) then you can add a certain downtown Ithaca street to the itinerary of haunted spots.  In a newspaper interview before his execution, Rulloff predicted:

“You cannot kill an unquiet spirit, and I know that my impending death will not mean the end of Rulloff. In the dead of the night, walking along Cayuga Street, you will sense my presence. When you wake to a sudden chill, I will be in the room. And when you find yourself alone at the lake shore, gazing away at gray Cayuga, know that I was cut short and your ancestors killed me.”

With an attitude like that, your brain would be green, too.

Uncle Ezra   

Dear Future Millionaire,  

It is not actually possible to write out a check for a negative amount. The check will simply be invalid. On the other hand, if you do find your fortune in the near future and decide that you would like to share some of it with the university, you are in fact able to give it to any department that you chose.

The Cornell Alumni Office will follow the interest of the donor and place all donations in specific funds. If you wish to have your money go to students who are not able to afford tuition and attendance, you would donate to the Scolarship Fund. The money in this fund gets lumped together and is redistributed by the financial aid office accordingly to students who need it most. It is possible to track your donation through the stewardship component, which is a detailed report explaining how your money was allocated.

Uncle Ezra   

Dear Nature Love,

Yes, Beebe Lake and the surrounding trails are part of Cornell Plantations’ Natural Areas.

Uncle Ezra   

Dear Introvert,

I am truly sorry to hear this, I know that making friends can definitely be a difficult task especially when you feel like you've already done everything in the book. But always remember to believe and trust yourself. If the people you've been trying to get to know aren't reciprocating their interest in being your friend, then why waste your energy and time on them?

I suggest trying something completely new and different. Take yourself out of your comfort zone and if this means going through rush and joining a sorority then why not! Another fabulous option for meeting welcoming people is to join a Co-op.  Though you may describe yourself as introverted, I am confident that you are an interesting person. It's all about telling people who you are, your interests, your passions, your goals, and your past experiences. Make others want to get to know more about you by being comfortable with who you are as an individual.

If you ever find yourself feeling like you want to chat with someone come by the EARS office or the Women's Resource Center on the 2nd floor of Willard Straight Hall. The individuals working in these departments are great listeners and problem solvers; you'll always be able to find someone to talk to there!

Uncle Ezra