Ralphie the Buffalo

Ralphie the Buffalo is the name of the live mascot of the University of Colorado Buffaloes. Ralphie has been called one of the best live mascots in sports, and she is often erroneously labeled male.

The team of "Ralphie Handlers," who are varsity student-athletes, run Ralphie around Folsom Field, the University of Colorado's football field, in a horse shoe pattern before each half of each home game. It takes five Ralphie Handlers to run her around the field: two up front on each side to steer her around the field, two in the back on each side to help guide her, and one in far back to control her speed, called the "loop" position. Ralphie can reach speeds of 25 miles per hour (40 km/h). Female bison are used because they are smaller and less aggressive, as well as for insurance reasons, although Ralphie has knocked over her handlers on more than one occasion. Because of this, whether or not Ralphie runs is at the sole discretion of her handlers, and her run may be canceled if she is unusually nervous or upset.

Ralphie (satellite)

Ralphie (or 3CS-2) is a satellite, part of Three Corner Satellite project. Designed and being built by mostly undergraduate students at the University of Colorado at Boulder as part of the Air Force Research Laboratory's University Nanosat Program.

Ralphie is responsible for imaging and End-to-End Data Systems in 3CS project.

Satellite carries name of Colorado University's mascot, Ralphie.

Launched on the first Delta IV Heavy configuration, but failed to achieve orbit due to a problem with the rocket during launch.

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The Magic School Bus

The Magic School Bus is an edutainment multimedia franchise that consists of a book series, a TV series, and several video games among other things. Each of the stories within the franchise centers on the antics of a fictional elementary school teacher, Ms. Valerie Frizzle, and her class, who board an anthropomorphic Type A school bus, which takes them on field trips to impossible locations, such as the solar system, clouds, the past, and the human body. The class pet Liz, a lizard, accompanies the class on their field trips.

History

The first media in which this franchise was developed was the Magic School Bus book series. Craig Walker, vice-president and senior editorial director at Scholastic Co., stated that the concept began with the idea of combining science with fictional stories, and Joanna Cole (who had written both science and humor before) and Bruce Degen were then approached with creating such a series. Walker also states that his own memories of school field trips and of a teacher he had once, served as further inspiration. The first book "At the Waterworks" was written in 1985 and published the following year. The books are written in the first person from the point of view of an unnamed student in "the Friz's" class. Cole and Degen started a new series called Ms. Frizzle's Adventures in 2001, which teaches social studies, eventually producing three books in that series. Microsoft Home started publishing Magic School Bus software in 1994.