News

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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…

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    Cautious statement by new UC president

    Byadmin

    Napolitano at recent Regents meeting Incoming UC president Janet Napolitano was interviewed by NPR for “Morning Edition” which aired today.  Most of the interview was about her experience at the Dept. of Homeland Security. On the UC appointment, she said little about the Obama higher ed proposals other than she was aware of them including costs of tuition, we are a public university, etc. She said she would spend her initial time at UC listening and asking questions. You can hear the UC portion of the interview at the link below: UPDATE: VP Biden says Napolitano should be on US…

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    UCLA’s Ziman Center Weighs in on Chairing the Fed

    Byadmin

    UCLA’s Ziman Center for Real Estate – a unit of the Anderson School – publishes an op ed on who should be the next chair of the Federal Reserve.  The author is Stephen Oliner, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, a senior fellow at the Ziman Center, and formerly an associate director in the Division of Research and Statistics at the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.If you have been following the issue in the popular news media, you know that the choices for President Obama are said to be Larry Summers and Janet Yellen. (“Are…

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    Only half as grand – and yet big!

    Byadmin

    From time to time, we report on the “progress” of the UCLA Grand Hotel.  Sometimes, it’s helpful to illustrate just how grand it will be.  According to the official website for the Grand Hotel, it will have 250 rooms and 25,000 square feet of conference space.  So how big is that?  We have in past postings compared it with hotels in the local area.  It’s big!  Below is another comparison.  A developer in Santa Monica is proposing a hotel with 136 rooms at 5th and Colorado.  The proposal is drawing opposition which you can read about at http://www.smmirror.com/articles/News/Santa-Monica-Churches-Speak-Out-Against-Proposed-Hotel-At-5thColorado/38323.  But here…

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    Five Seats in Search of a Regent

    Byadmin

    The LA Times is carrying a story about Governor Brown’s seeming reluctance to fill five empty seats on the UC Board of Regents.  Speculation appears in the article about the motive.  A gubernatorial spokesperson says there is no motive.  But there could be an agenda.  The governor has been attending Regents meetings as an ex officio Regent and has noted that he is technically the president of the Board.  He has been pushing for online ed and performance standards.  (He line-item vetoed a mandate for UC he himself had inserted in the latest state budget on the promise that UC…

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    Not a thumbs up moment for Janet in her new job

    Byadmin

    The University of Michigan has raided UC San Diego, hiring a pair of young computer scientists who’ve been drawing attention for their efforts to help Google find better ways to operate online. Jason Mars, an assistant professor, and Lingjia Tang, a member of the research faculty, decided to leave UCSD’s Department of Computer Science and Engineering only a year after they arrived. Mars is the first African American in the department’s history to hold a tenure track position. “They’re both excellent researchers. This is the single biggest setback I’ve had as chair,” said Rajesh Gupta, who took over the fast…