• So, apparently I was the 96,635,092nd person to load up a YouTube video called Potter Puppet Pals: The Mysterious Ticking Noise. It was a rather fascinating and strangely entertaining way to spend three minutes of my life. Judging by the video’s views, it’s a good chance that you, my neighbor and even possibly my grandmother have all seen this video before I have. But here it is, in case you hadn’t.

Well, as with anything halfway decent and entertaining, the video has spawned a whole variety of spinoffs.

All of which leads me to this magnificent KU basketball version — starring female volleyball and golf athletes — that a colleague discovered for me. Words are my trade and my passion. For this, I have no words. You’ll just have to watch.

• I got a nice note from a reader on Wednesday who said he or she (it was anonymous) enjoyed reading these posts but hoped that they didn’t become a forum for constant complaints.

The reader pointed out that while, yes, some people yesterday weren’t all that happy they had to trudge through the snow to come to work, there were also probably plenty of people like Rose Lynn Chaaban, a lead cashier at the KU bookstore, who were at work and quite happy about it.

The University Daily Kansan caught up with her during the nasty weather, and she seemed to have a pretty good attitude about the whole thing.

She was called in to work at the Hawk Shop at 7 a.m. and didn’t seem to mind at all.

“I have never missed a day of work due to weather,” Chaaban told the student newspaper. “It doesn’t bother me to have to be here. I think it’s a good idea to have something open to people and available for people who have to work.”

So here’s my shout-out to all the folks who kept the campus running over the past couple of days — the facilities folks digging campus out of the snow and ice, the people who fed hungry students and staffers and everyone else who did their part. You all rock. Especially the ones who did it with a smile.

• KU’s Society of Open Minded Atheists and Agnostics will soon celebrate “Darwin Day” with a speaker devoted to “science literacy and appreciation.” Michael Blanford, director of educational programs for the James Randi Educational Foundation and a former field biologist, will speak at 7 p.m. Feb. 8 at the Burge Union’s Relay Room.

• Another upcoming lecture series at KU will involve five national experts on aging.

The series is sponsored by several KU entities, including the School of Architecture, Design and Planning; the department of American studies; the Center for Service Learning; the Life Span Institute; the and the Center for Teaching Excellence.

It focuses on ways to re-conceive the residential environment in which aging occurs: buildings, neighborhoods, communities and culture.

For more information on the series, Boomer Futures: Aging Well in the 21st Century, including information about the lectures, times and locations, click here.

• I like people who like their jobs. KU has more than its fair share of those folks. If you’re one of them, tell me why at ahyland@ljworld.com. Keep all the other tips flowing there, too.