Here's a funny bit: Librarians at various UC schools are waging a quiet war against Nature Publishing Group, the publishers of influential journals like Nature and Scientific American who have raised the cost of institutional subscriptions as much as seven-fold in the last couple of years. A 400% increase for 2011, amounting to $1 million, was the last straw and now the librarians are calling for a UC-wide boycott of the magazines, including all those academics who serve as contributors. more ›

(By Joe Kukura) more ›

If you’re anything like us, you’ll get unnecessarily riled up woot-woot-ing for the Bay Area in any kind of regional representation-structured contest. If there’s a competition and any kind of trophy involved, screw it – we’re down. Add to that the factor that these kids are totally cute as hell with their awful posture and adorable lack of telegenic savvy, and the Scripps National Spelling Bee – the Super Bowl of these things – makes great entertainment. more ›

We just received word, via a former student who has asked to remain anonymous, that New College of California has allegedly lost its accreditation. It should be noted that we have yet to confirm the validity of this letter from either WASC and New College But the full letter that was sent to SFist can be found after the jump. more ›