Biosphere 3 Nine and Ten Day Updates Welcome to 2018! Day Ten, today, being New Year's Day. brings a double-whammy to the New Holiday Break swan song. Between the lockout and the national holiday, life inside the dome does appear nearly extinguished. Yesterday, Sunday, was in contrast very lively on the Main Campus: the big snow moving vehicles arrived and -- assuming it will not snow again before Tuesday -- Lot 10 and the others are cleared. Even the Mini Coopers and Smart vehicles will have easy access to a snow-free parking space on Tuesday morning should faculty, students and staff choose to start the New Year right by putting their noses to their on-campus grindstones. Tuesday is the day that a short, intensive Winter Session Semester will commence for the first time ever! In sum, the Biosphere 3 experiment will end tonight at midnight. The Dome will be removed, and heat, light, building access and food services will officially return across campus. But wait! Heat, light and building services were available, at least in Snyder Memorial Building, to everyone who ventured inside Snyder all during the New Winter Break cross-campus lockout anyway, all through the experimental shut-down. So what was the "Stay off Campus" decree all about in the first place? Was it phony-boloney? I'd like to know how much money was saved as an outcome of the scare tactics? I'd also like to know what that portable computer on wheels chugging away 24/7 for ten days and nights in Lot 11 robotically accomplished over the New Winter Break?. The only thing I do know for sure is that after asking and receiving my Chair's permission to ignore the ban I was able to personally accomplish a lot of professor stuff over the past ten days while working out of my office in Snyder. So, Thank You UT for not strictly enforcing the ban after all the fuss leading up to its implementation. I hope the experiment -- whatever it was -- succeeded. Over and out in!