How do you liven the spirits of college students during finals? HAVE A RAVE AT THE LIBRARY!

Check this video and there are a bunch of related videos. I think this would have been fun to participate in but I really hope these students can harness this energy to do something positive. Stand up for what you believe in, fight the man, do whatever you feel stongly about and still rave in between.

This week I saw Charleston police motoring around Marion Square in a weird 3-wheeled vehicle-thing. Turns out, they’re a new type of electric vehicle called a T3 Motion.

The Digitel has a great video showing how it works and even shows the journalist taking a spin on it. A T3 until costs around $12,000 new, and after a four-hour cycle charge, can drive for about 25 miles, which is enough to cover a ten hour shift without any problems.

Verizon Wireless is seeking another 65 full-time customer service professionals for its Charleston call center. Interested candidates may apply online by visiting the Verizon Wireless website at www.verizonwireless.com/careers. Openings have been created largely by internal promotions and transfers and will be filled in the next several weeks.

The new positions will offer: highly competitive salaries and benefits, including:

• health care coverage that begins on the first day of employment
• participation in the company’s 401(k) program with a dollar for dollar match up to 6 percent of employee salary contributions
• Tuition reimbursement.
• Annual bonuses
• Lactation rooms and on-site fitness center
• Employees may also take advantage of numerous opportunities for career advancement.

Verizon Wireless received the Excellence in Workplace Diversity award from the South Carolina Chamber of Commerce and has been named one of Working Mother magazine’s “100 Best Companies for Working Mothers” for seven years in a row and has been named by Health Magazine as one of 10 U.S. employers to best help women balance their professional and personal responsibilities.

A San Diego teacher is having to get creative to administer his tests. Calculus teacher Tom Farber is selling ad space on tests to cover printing costs. Budget cuts limited his in-school printing allowance to $316 for the year and the cost of printing quizzes and tests for his 167 students will easily be more than $500. budget cuts would limit his in-school printing allowance — tracked by the school’s copy machines — to $316 for the year. The cost of printing quizzes and tests for his 167 students will easily be more than $500, he said. Farber says he doesn’t want to continue to sell ads on tests and hopes that the government will give educators the resources they need. Some officials are discouraging the practice but others are applauding Farber for his creativity.

I was reading a recent copy of Forbes Magazine the other day and came across an article titled, “Utopia in the Desert.” Masdar City will be built by 2016 and will be the first carbon-neutral city. The city will be built on a platform 23-feet above the desert sands with below-level transit system! This green city sprang from the thought-”What better investment can Abu Dhabi have than putting revenues from the oil sector into a future-energy sector?” Makes sense and the UAE has created hotels and islands that many people previously thought were inconceivable.

Highlights

• 50,000 people will live and work without cars or fossil fuels
• Masdar City will be on 23-foot-high stilts with light-rail lines run overhead and small shuttle cars carrying people underneath the platform on which the city sits (2,500 cars and 83 stations are planned)
• Close-packed buildings will shade narrow streets and should cut temperatures by as much as 35 degrees Fahrenheit
• Heat pumps will move surface heat underground to trim the demand for air-conditioning by 30%.
• The planners have designed the city’s buildings to burn 30 kilowatt-hours of electricity per person a day (compared with an average of 54 across the U.A.E.)
• The city will get fresh water by solar desalination of seawater and by catching dew (conservation and recycling will cut its consumption to 40% of the regional norm)
• Solar energy, wind turbines and other alternative power sources will provide all the electricity needed to run Masdar’s research labs, homes and factories
• The estimated cost of completion is $22 billion, with funding initial coming from the city of Abu Dhabi, and later from partnerships with developers and corporations

To celebrate New Year’s Eve, Tristan will be serving a special, three-course dinner menu. Guests will also enjoy a champagne toast at midnight to kick off 2009.

The New Years Eve menu will feature three courses for $100 per person, plus tax and gratuity. Jazz/funk band, A Touch of Class, will entertain guests with a mix of covers and originals beginning at 8 p.m. Reservations can be made for seatings at 7, 8, 9 and 10 p.m. Guests seeking a more intimate evening can reserve the private room for up to 16 guests.

The restaurant will be closed for lunch on New Years Eve and closed New Years Day.

For New Years Eve 2008, Executive Chef Aaron Deal has created the following menu, and guests may choose a favorite dish from each category:

First

Cauliflower Bisque

Sevruga Caviar, Chervil, Lemon

Kumamoto Oysters

Yuzu Dashi Gelee, Pickled Celery

Winter Radish Salad

Lemon Thyme Vinaigrette, Split Creek Chevre, Black Truffle

Foie Gras

Saigon Cinnamon, Ginger Apple Turnover, Brie Fondue, Apple Sherry

Second

Cold Water Lobster Tail

Yukon Potato Gnocchi, Young Parmesan Emulsion, Micro Herbs

Filet of Beef Tenderloin

Fingerling Potato, Baby Carrot, Pearl Onion, Cabernet Jus

Vermillion Snapper

Green Lentils, Country Ham Jus, Pearl Onion, Black Truffle

Keegan Filion Chicken

Foie Gras Stuffing, Brussels Sprout, Mushroom, Chestnut Veloute

Third

Dark Chocolate Tourchon

Butternut Squash, Pine Nut, Bonfire Toffee

Prosecco Poached Pear

Elderflower, Gingered Baba, Sparkling Gelee

Saffron Panna Cotta

Blood Orange, Cardamom, Local Honey

Call 534-2155 to inquire or to make reservations.