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NEWS TIP SHEET A CU-Boulder student satellite dubbed "The Little Satellite That Did" re-entered Earth's atmosphere and burned up following nearly six years of collecting valuable data while being controlled from the CU campus.

An estimated 9,000 people are expected to attend the winter commencement ceremony at the University of Colorado at Boulder on Dec. 19 and those planning to drive should arrive early. Commencement begins at 9:30 a.m. in the Coors Events/Conference Center. It is recommended that guests arrive well before 9 a.m. Early arrival will give all guests time to be in their seats by 9:10 a.m. and will avoid delaying the ceremony.

Editors: Contents embargoed from release until Monday, Dec. 15, at 6 a.m. An expanding national economy, led by increased business spending and improving equity markets, has prompted improved economic conditions in Colorado and laid the foundation for modest growth in 2004, according to CU-Boulder economist Richard Wobbekind. Wobbekind's announcement was part of the 39th annual Business Economic Outlook Forum hosted Dec. 15 by the University of Colorado at Boulder's Leeds School of Business.

When it comes to spending money in the pursuit of happiness, the "good life" may be better lived by doing things rather than by having things, according to a University of Colorado at Boulder researcher. In a society that thrives on the pursuit of happiness, a question that often comes to mind, especially around the holiday shopping season, is what really makes us happy. "We found that people receive more enduring pleasure and satisfaction from investing in life experiences than material possessions," said CU-Boulder assistant professor of psychology Leaf Van Boven.

Although rings around planets like Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune are relatively short-lived, new evidence implies that the recycling of orbiting debris can lengthen the lifetime of such rings, according to University of Colorado researchers. Strong evidence now implies small moons near the giant planets like Saturn and Jupiter are essentially piles of rubble, said Larry Esposito, a professor at CU-Boulder's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics. These re-constituted small bodies are the source of material for planetary rings.

The scientific properties of sound and air pressure are explained when CU Wizard Michael Dubson presents his show, "Boom! The Physics of Sound and Air Pressure," on Saturday, Dec. 20, at 9:30 a.m. in Duane Physics, room G1B30. During the free hour-long show, Dubson, a senior instructor in the physics department at the University of Colorado at Boulder, will implode a 50-gallon steel drum using air pressure, create a sonic boom with a bullwhip and stage a tug-of-war with the pressure of the atmosphere.

The belt of high-energy electrons that normally cradles Earth from afar was greatly enhanced and pushed unusually close to our atmosphere during the violent solar activity that occurred in late October, University of Colorado at Boulder researchers say.

Special recognition ceremonies to commemorate individual students will be held by most University of Colorado at Boulder schools and colleges in addition to the main university commencement ceremony on Dec. 19. Following is a schedule of special events in the schools and colleges. * School of Journalism and Mass Communication recognition ceremony, Thursday, Dec. 18, at 2:30 p.m. in Macky Auditorium. Fred Brown, former chief of the Denver Post's capitol bureau and one of the authors of the Society of Professional Journalists' Code of Ethics, is the speaker.

The student leaders of an effort to debunk the party school image at the University of Colorado at Boulder believe questionable social surveys on campus are harmful to both incoming freshmen and outgoing graduates in the job market. And, no, they don't fit the antisocial stereotype some might expect.

Nobel laureate Eric Cornell will give the commencement address and the University of Colorado at Boulder will confer 2,051 degrees during its winter commencement ceremony on Friday, Dec. 19. Cornell is a senior scientist at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Boulder and an adjoint professor of physics at CU-Boulder.