Author: admin

  • The Harvard Business School Frat House is Classy

    Byadmin

    On Sunday, we posted a link to the NY Times piece on the Harvard Business School and its frat house atmosphere.  Now the Times is running a piece saying the class divide among the students is even more of a problem:  …In recent years, second-year students have organized a midwinter ski trip that costs over $1,000, while others, including members of “Section X,” a secret society of ultrawealthy students, spend far more on weekend party trips to places like Iceland and Moscow… When Christina Wallace, now the director of the Startup Institute, attended Harvard Business School on a scholarship, she was told…

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    Trouble Brewing

    Byadmin

    From the Daily Bruin: Two first-year students recently chose not to participate in part of a sex education presentation offered at UCLA’s freshman orientation for religious reasons, prompting confusion about whether the presentation is mandatory.  Bella and Angelica Ayala, twin first-year biology students, said they wanted to be exempt from part of UCLA’s mandatory sex education presentation in late August because of moral objections to contraception. New Student Orientation lasts three days and includes informational sessions on extracurricular activities, academics and class enrollment procedures at UCLA, as well as discussions about topics like sex and alcohol… Angelica Ayala said she and her sister…

  • Yet another review questioning whether for MOOCs there is a there there

    Byadmin

    A lengthy review of the MOOC world appears in The Nation.  The author notes that you might do better perusing iTunes and YouTube if you want to watch courses.  Lack of credit for most courses, even from the institutions offering them, is also noted.  And there is the big dropout rate. You can get a sense from the title alone: “Inside the Coursera Hype Machine.”  The article is at:http://www.thenation.com/article/176036/inside-coursera-hype-machine

  • You probably forgot to plan your celebrations but…

    Byadmin

    …today is Admission Day.  No, it doesn’t refer to getting into UCLA.  See below: In February of 1848, Mexico and the United States signed a treaty which ended the Mexican War and yielded a vast portion of the Southwest, including present day California, to the United States. Several days earlier, January 24, 1848, gold had been discovered on the American River near Sacramento, and the ensuing gold rush hastened California’s admittance to the Union.  With the Gold Rush came a huge increase in population and a pressing need for civil government.  In 1849, Californians sought statehood and, after heated debate in the U.S….

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    A bad patch of news for UCLA’s patent on the nicotine patch?

    Byadmin

    From Time:…The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is currently evaluating the safety of e-cigarettes, which are battery-powered versions of cigarettes that can contain varying amounts of nicotine but don’t expose users to the potentially harmful byproducts of tobacco smoke such as tar and carbon monoxide. Instead, they inhale nicotine vapors, which the device’s advocates say is safer than smoking conventional cigarettes, and makes e-cigarettes a viable way to kick the habit as well. And the latest study on e-cigarettes, published in the journal Lancet, supports that claim. In the first clinical trial comparing e-cigarettes and nicotine patches in helping people to…

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    Trying to Reform the Harvard Business School Frat House

    Byadmin

    [No, the title of this posting is not the official title of the article excerpted below from the NY Times.  But that’s what it seems to be about.] BOSTON — When the members of the Harvard Business School class of 2013 gathered in May to celebrate the end of their studies, there was little visible evidence of the experiment they had undergone for the last two years. As they stood amid the brick buildings named after businessmen from Morgan to Bloomberg, black-and-crimson caps and gowns united the 905 graduates into one genderless mass.  But during that week’s festivities, the Class…

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    The Mustache Should Have Been the Clue

    Byadmin

    From the Daily Bruin: University police issued a warning on Friday about men attempting to sell counterfeit Armani jackets in Westwood, according to a police report. UCPD has received five reports since February about suspicious men driving around Westwood Village and the UCLA campus, asking students for directions to the Los Angeles International Airport, and offering to sell them the fake designer jackets at a reduced price, said Brian Washburn, a university police detective…  One of the two men was described in the police report as white, about 35 to 40 years old, with black hair and a thin mustache. The other man…

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    The Mysteries of Rolfe

    Byadmin

    If you enter Rolfe Hall from the south entrance, you come across what appears to be a model of the Old Globe Theater.  There is no label indicating who made it or why it is there. Across from the model is an electrical panel of some type with a light indicating there is “trouble.”  It blinks on… …and off and beeps each time like a truck backing up.  No one seems to be troubled by the trouble.  Finally, the one non-mystery is the identity of Rolfe which is explained on a plaque near the model: As you can see, there…

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    UCLA: Westwood tomorrow and back then

    Byadmin

    Westwood in 1929 If you look at the bottom-right corner of the photo above, you can see Wilshire Boulevard at the point where the Federal Building now stands.  What’s the relevance?  There is an alert being circulated that tomorrow (Saturday, Sept. 7), there will be demonstration that will possibly involve Westwood Village itself and will be heading to the Federal Building.  Could affect traffic.  No indication from the announcement about what the demonstration will be about. Traffic Notice Walkways – Pathways Description What: Demonstration/MarchWhen: Saturday, September 7, 2013. 1:00pm to 6:00pm.Where: Westwood Federal Building and Westwood Village  Impacts: The march is expected…

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    Smile. You are likely on cellphone camera in class

    Byadmin

    Mitt Romney was surprised during the 2012 election when someone made a video of his controversial 47% remarks at a supposedly private affair. Classrooms are even less private with cellphones abundant yet apparently some faculty are surprised to find themselves on YouTube or elsewhere when they say things they shouldn’t.  You can raise questions of academic freedom, legalities of surreptitious recordings, etc. But the world is what it is and a cautionary tale can be found below:Inside Higher Ed, among other sources, picked up the story of a Michigan State U professor who ranted against Republicans: Michigan State University has removed…