The 'Prince' receives a lot of press releases on a daily basis, but this one, from humor magazine The Princeton Tiger, stood out as rather unusual.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE FROM THE PRINCETON TIGER:
BOSTON – This is the time of year when it is traditional to give thanks for one's blessings and reach out to those in need. Friday morning of Fall Break, emissaries from Princeton University tapped into the spirit of the season early when they dispensed hot oatmeal to students in and around Harvard Yard. After losing 27% of its endowment, Harvard had ceased serving hot breakfasts to its students as a cost-saving measure.
The volunteers, all students belonging to Princeton’s humor magazine, The Princeton Tiger, used their fall recess to drive to Cambridge in order to help their less fortunate peers. “Everyone’s hurting in this economy,” said Steven Liss, Chairman of The Tiger. “But Harvard’s endowment shrunk from $37 billion to scarcely $26 billion– they’ve lost more than anyone in these tough times.” A Massachusetts native, Liss cited concern over the coming winter. “Harvard’s our rival, but we hate to think of them having to get by on only continental breakfasts. How can we enjoy our omelets when they have to clutch croissants in shivering hands, too weak to lift the cantaloupe from their plates? It’s just not decent!”
Though The Tiger is a humor magazine, Liss denied Princeton’s actions were in any way a prank, instead describing them in terms of a humanitarian intervention. “There’s more than warm oatmeal in those paper cups,” Liss said. “There’s cinnamon. Even more importantly, there’s compassion and hope."
Not all Harvard students were grateful for Princeton's help. Upon learning of Princeton's mission of mercy, many Harvard students plotted via their residential college email lists to interfere with the aid workers. Several students planned on drenching Princeton's volunteers with water guns. Another suggested using "what little hot breakfast we have (oatmeal, etc) as ammo against them. or just throw muffins. or tackle them. Honestly these kids have no idea what's coming."
Fortunately, Princeton had access to the Harvard email lists and chose a new, safe location in Harvard Yard where the volunteers were able to ladle oatmeal in peace before donating extra boxes of oatmeal to a local shelter. Though many students were grateful to see a warm meal and friendly faces, others raged via email. "It's exceedingly pitiful that Princeton, of all god-forsaken places, can muster the cohesion and joie de vivre to get enough kids to another school's campus to both make a prank and film it, and we can't do shit about it," said a student living in the Radcliffe Quadrangle. "This is why Harvard sucks."
Monday, November 30, 2009
Princeton volunteers bring hot breakfasts to deprived Harvardians
Who says professors have to be PC?
A certain professor in a certain biology class started lecture talking about deer, and ended it proposing a cure-all for homelessness. How?
According to this professor, deer and wolf populations are correlated to each other (at least in Michigan): The more deer there are, the more wolves eat deer. It’s a happy relationship.
Professor: Actually, we used to have a deer problem in Princeton too, since the only things killing them were SUVs.
(The class murmurs.)
Professor: But the people who owned those SUVs weren’t too happy. So now we hire a group called the White Buffalo to kill them.
Class: White Buffalo? Seriously?
Professor: My solution, of course — and you should vote for this in the next local elections — is to reintroduce wolves to the area!
Class: …What?
Professor: Think about it! No more deer! Plus, we wouldn’t have to worry about people not putting leashes on their pets OR homeless people anymore!
Moral of the class: Next time you vote, vote wolf.
Naked in New Haven
Princeton’s Nude Olympics may be long gone, but students at some of our fellow Ivies are still having fun without clothes. Students from Harvard were treated to a “naked party” after the Harvard-Yale football game this year, held in one of Yale’s a cappella houses. Party-goers were given plastic bags to put their clothes in upon arrival. Appartently, eye contact at the party was strong, and though there was no dancing, in one case of accidental over-excitement, one party-goer was asked to step outside to the yard to calm down, in place of a cold shower.
Princetonians aren’t shy about being naked … whether it’s a streak show in the middle of an econ lecture or a naked crew member walking around Cloister. Now the only question is: Which club will go from "two articles of clothing" night, to none?
Yaro '12: Overcoming the Ni! Sayers
Ni! Ni! Ni! Is that Monty Python...? No, wait, it's USG presidential candidate Michael Yaroshefsky '12, out with a spiffy new website and video today.
Take a look:
Overcoming the Ni! Sayers from Michael Yaroshefsky on Vimeo.
Vacations call for a makeover?
Another vacation (scratch that 2 days) has come and gone and with it has come the overwhelming but all too familiar feeling that days off from Princeton are fleeting. Maybe this has something also to do with the fact that vacations here are inherently bizarre and in my opinion need to be altered. Yes, we get a longer summer but most of our friends at home have already left by the time August rolls around. Our winter break is all too short and filled with stress over approaching finals. And then suddenly is that random week of intersession, which is nice, but pretty inconvenient for those who live a distance away. Moving finals to before winter vacation would solve most of these problems, but maybe I’m just another Princeton student who should stop complaining about nothing.
250 Pages of Listening a Week
California State University, Dominguez Hills has thought of a new way to make life easier for its students: MP3s of reading assignments. A librarian at the school has set up 17 computers on campus to use a scanner and text-to-speech software to create audio versions of readings that can be downloaded to mobile devices. It takes one minute to download three pages, and once downloaded the readers can choose the voice that reads the MP3.
Students at Princeton can recreate this using Kindles, paid versions of Adobe Acrobat and free, public domain literature audiobooks on LibriVox.
Would greater access to audio versions of your reading improve your time management on campus? Would you like access to a system like that at Cal State Dominguez Hills?
Top Tiger Thinkers
Have you been spending too much time on PrincetonFML? In need of a pick-me-up? If you're a fan of the promotion of famous Princetonians, this might help.
Foreign Policy magazine just released its first-ever "Top 100 Global Thinkers" list, and there are 10 Princetonians (really, Princeton-related people) on it, as follows:
(1) Ben Bernanke, former economics professor — chairman of the Federal Reserve
(8) Gen. David Petraeus GS '85 — commander of the U.S. Central Command (and 2009 Baccalaureate speaker)
(25) Joseph Stiglitz, former economics professor — Columbia economics professor
(27) Robert Wright '79 — journalist and author
(29) Paul Krugman, economics professor — 2009 Nobel Prize winner and New York Times columnist
(45) Abdolkarim Soroush, visiting lecturer in 2002-03 — philosopher
(69) Freeman Dyson H'74 -- physicist and professor emeritus at the Institute for Advanced Study
(79) Anne-Marie Slaughter '80, former dean of the Wilson School — director of State Department policy planning staff
(82) Peter W. Singer '82 (not to be confused with Professor Peter Singer) — military scholar
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Photo Call: Holiday Decorations
Thanksgiving has passed and therefore its time to go full force into holiday decorating. (Palmer Square and Quad have already gotten into the act.) By the time campus clears out on December 18th, decorations for Christmas, Hanukkah, Festivus etc. will have spontaneously appeared all about Princeton. This year, we at the Prox want to document this with your help. Send your photos of decorations to blogs@dailyprincetonian.com and we'll run the best on the blog.
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Princeton Price Comparison Round 3: Cleaning/Bathroom Supplies
This week’s round of low-price hunting and bargains should be of particular interest given the holiday season. I don’t know about you, but I need all the money I can get to pay for the multiple (for some reason ridiculously expensive) gifts to family members (ie- by sister and her new Nintendo DS), so I’m looking for cheap prices everywhere I go.
By special request from an email I received, we’ll be looking at cleaning/bathroom supplies this week. Similar to last edition, I’ll only be examining CVS and the UStore since the Wawa carries very few of these products (don’t worry, we’ll be returning to the Wa next week for sure).
I’d also like to address a comment that came up in last week’s article: just because I’m a Princeton student, doesn’t mean I’m advocating for the U-Store. This is a completely unbiased study. In fact, I’m just as surprised as some of you by their low prices. If anything, the U-Store’s received a bad rap because some of its products are ridiculously overpriced (high-end electronics, for example) but, based on what I’ve found so far, most of its run-of-the-mill products are very similar in price to the other local outfitters. So with that out of the way, let’s move on to this week’s prices.
Crest Toothpaste (Note: because so many brands are available in both stores, I’ve decided to list price ranges for this product)
CVS: 2.49-5.39
U-Store: 4.49-5.69
Advantage: CVS
Old Spice deodorant
CVS: 3.29
U-Store: 3.49
Advantage: CVS
Tide (50 fl. oz.)
CVS: 10.39
U-Store: 9.99
Advantage: U-Store
35 Clorox Wipes- CVS; 40 Western Family Wipes- U-Store
CVS: 4.19
U-Store: 2.99
Advantage: U-Store
1 roll paper towels
CVS: 1.49-2.19
U-Store: 1.89
Advantage: CVS
Kleenex single box
CVS: 2.39
U-Store: 3.39
Advantage: CVS
Interestingly enough, pretty consistent findings across the board this week point to CVS as the go-to place for bathroom/cleaning supplies with a few minor exceptions. Something I thought I’d mention briefly: product selection. I pretty much choose products on a random basis. I try to select products that I know both, or all three stores, will have. In some situations, this is pretty tough considering all the different brands and types of products available so in a way, it’s a minor miracle my data is as coherent and organized as it is. Not sure yet what I’ll be examining next week, but rest assured it’ll include the Wawa.
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Princeton FML
20 Sweet: Food Songs
In honor of Thanksgiving, this week’s 20 Sweet is all about the food. Feel free to post additional song suggestions, and have a great few days off!
1. “Strawberry Fields Forever” – The Beatles
2. “Meat Grinder” – MF Doom
3. “Food Chain” – Eric Hutchinson
4. “American Pie” – Don McLean
5. “Banana Pancakes” – Jack Johnson
6. “...And Carrot Rope” – Pavement
7. “Cookie Jar (fear. The-Dream)” – Gym Class Heroes
8. “Raw Sugar” – Metric
9. “Sex and Candy” – Marcy Playground
10. “Ice Cream Girl” – Wale
11. “Cheeseburger in Paradise” – Jimmy Buffett
12. “Mango Pickle Downriver” – M.I.A.
13. “Corona and Lime” – Shwayze
14. “Mustard Seed Celebration” – Panacea
15. “Cherry Oh Baby” – UB40
16. “The Lemon Song” – Led Zeppelin
17. “Candy Floss” – Wilco
18. “Tupelo Honey” – Van Morrison
19. “Candy Everybody Wants” – 10,000 Maniacs
20. “You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb” - Spoon
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Have a Comic Thanksgiving Eve
For everyone with an afternoon or evening class tomorrow.
PhD Comics tell the tales of grad students at Stanford University. You can find all of the comics by Jorge Cham here.
Men's Lax ranked No. 8 in preseason poll
Football season ended on Saturday. Now it's time for some Lacrosse.
Princeton debuted at No. 8 today in the preseason poll released by Insidelacrosse.com.
What's their take on our upcoming season? We're glad you asked:
The Skinny: Season One of the Chris Bates era begins in New Jersey, but Bill Tierney left a pretty full cupboard when he exited for Denver. Young stars Jack McBride, Chad Wiedmaier and Tyler Fiorito have the Tigers looking at another NCAA run.
Princeton went 13-3 before losing in the NCAA quarterfinals to Cornell. The Tigers will open their season on Feb. 27 with a home game against Hofstra.
The Inside Lacrosse Top 10:
1. Duke
2. Syracuse
3. Virginia
4. North Carolina
5. Cornell
6. Johns Hopkins
7. Maryland
8. Princeton
9. Notre Dame
10. Hofstra
West College Speaks
Still wondering why you got into Princeton? Want to ask Janet Rapelye herself (and embarrass yourself in front of the rest of the internet)? The Wall Street Journal is willing to help you out. They are having a live question and answer session with Rapelye and the admissions directors from Bryn Mawr College, Grinnell College, Marquette University, University of Pennsylvania, University of Vermont, Wesleyan University and Williams College on December 2. You do have to submit your questions in advance, which does cut down on the chance to finally learn how the University might have let you slip in, but if you do have an unanswered question for the folks in West College send it to wsjoncampus@unigo.com by 7 pm on the 2nd and then watch to see if they pick yours from the many submissions.
Ivy Watch: Electoral Errors and Quaker Victory
Brown:
Editor’s note
It’s not an article, but the Brown Daily Herald recently discovered that a significant number of the “direct quotations” in one of their articles hadn’t actually been spoken by their interviewees. Upon reviewing the previous work of the author in question, the Herald discovered that this was something of a trend.
Columbia:
GS won’t get swipe access to residence halls
Administrators at Columbia recently decided against granting residential hall access to General Studies students, students who are considered non-traditional because they have interrupted their education for a significant amount of time or because they attend the university part-time. This could be a great security measure, except for the fact that many of the services and classes their tuition pays for are located in those very residential halls.
Cornell:
Engr. Plans to Reduce Budget, Calling for More Students and Fewer Faculty
Cornell’s College of Engineering recently announced its intent to cut its budget by 15 percent. Among its plans: increasing the student body and cutting back on faculty. Sounds like the recipe for a great classroom experience.
Dartmouth
Energy drinks may pose health risk
A dietician and manager of a Dartmouth eatery said she was reluctant to stock energy drinks after recent debate about their potential health risks. Surprisingly, the article doesn’t touch on the idea that the fact it’s even necessary to pull four consecutive caffeine-powered all-nighters might be a problem in its own right.
Harvard:
Fallout of UC Election Colored By Allegations of Misconduct, Internal Dissension, and Incriminating E-mails
Harvard’s Undergraduate Council recently tried to hold a presidential election, only to have it explode in uproar. And resignations. And accusations. And incriminating e-mails. Where have we seen this before?
Penn:
Quakers seal outright Ivy title
Penn’s football team won the Ivy League championship after an undefeated season (we lost to them out of politeness at their homecoming game). No, really, it’s great that they’re so happy about the championship. And it has the added benefit of distracting people from the fact that for the first time since 2002 they produced no domestic Rhodes scholars.
Yale:
Freshman Class Council scraps offensive shirts
Yale’s class of 2013 decided to abandon a t-shirt design after LGBT students were offended by it. The design featured a quote by Princetonian F. Scott Fitzgerald ’17, “I think of all Harvard men as sissies.”
Monday, November 23, 2009
Naughty or Nice
Just in time to get the American people off the naughty list for Christmas, Jim Leach '64, chairman of the National Endowment of the Humanities and University lecturer, is going on a civility tour. He will spend the next year and a half traveling to 50 cities and "make clear that coarseness in public manners can jeopardize social cohesion."
As of yet, there are few details about the tour, but next time you're having an involved political discussion that starts to get a little rowdy, beware. Professor Leach is watching, and he wants you to establish "an ethos of thoughtfulness and decency of expression in the public square."
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Figures of Speech: Thanksgiving Week!
Not many events are coming up this week, but it doesn't matter because THANKSGIVING weekend is coming up!
In the meantime, you may want to consider entering this contest:
Water Art Contest
Monday, Nov 23, 12:00 AM – 23 hours, 45 minutes – Arts/Performance
Butler Art Gallery
Submissions of any media (film, photography, 2-D, 3-D, etc.) that relate to water are welcome: water scarcity, water rights, water pollution, etc. etc. BE CREATIVE!
Submissions are due by December 15th, 2009. All artwork will be displayed in the new Butler art gallery at the beginning of spring semester. Art work will be reviewed by a panel and awards given (judging will be based on quality of artwork, creativity, and innovative response to water issues).
To register: http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dFNDSDBJUXNwU3F4WlNheTlJVVJyc2c6MA
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Thanksgiving at Home: Priceless or Pricey?
I have always found Thanksgiving break to be somewhat rushed. Tuesday, everyone is in class, out on the Street – the University appears to be in full swing: by Wednesday morning, there are nothing but a few tumbleweeds drifting across the Slums.
The mass exodus that happens somewhere between Tuesday night and Wednesday afternoon has always perplexed me. Freshman year the trend was more distinct because almost everyone went home. As seniors, many of us are more likely to share the meal with friends, families of friends, or even the stray professor. Still, going home for Thanksgiving is part of what makes the holiday so great; and yet, it’s a costly undertaking.
An airline ticket to Los Angeles or Seattle?
At least $500 and as much as $1,000. (Depending on when you buy).
A train ticket to DC?
$61-90, depending on when you buy, the speed of the train, time of day, etc.
A ticket on a sketchy bus to Boston?
Well, $13.75 to get to the city on NJT, $2 for the subway, and around $20 for the bus itself. (Although, apparently some of these buses now have free wifi – sweet!)
If you’re from the tri-state area, getting home is less difficult, especially if you have a car. Friends can sometimes carpool to Virginia, Maryland – what have you. If you’re really lucky, one of your parents might come pick you up. But for most of us, traveling home for a long weekend is hectic and expensive, especially given Fall Break just a few weeks back.
I’m not suggesting you don’t head home for the holidays. But wouldn’t it be great if there were some way to really facilitate a nice on-campus Thanksgiving environment that didn’t involve a dining hall and maybe included a pre-tryptophan football match? I hear President Tilghman has a nice place.
Thanksgiving at Lowrie House with President Tilghman
N.B. Apparently you had to RSVP to President Tilghman's by November 20th, but if you still don't have plans, you can probably at least contact them to see if there are extra spots.
Planes, Trains, Automobiles:
Lucky Star Bus
Amtrak
Student Flight Fares
Orbitz
Reinhardt in the media
With the Senate Democrats preparing to try and bring the health care bill to the floor, Princeton professor and health-care economist Uwe Reinhardt is all over the news. So when he's not teaching ECO 200: Advanced Principles of Economics and WWS 597: The Political Economy of Health Systems this term, he's contributing to:
Bloomberg
Reinhardt Interview on Health-Care Policy
NPR
Costs Of Prescription Drugs Spike
The New York Times
The Uproar Over Mammography
Economists’ Letter to Obama on Health Care Reform
Afghanistan’s Lessons for Health Care Reform
Friday, November 20, 2009
Protests at the UCs
While Princeton has mostly made it through the massive drop in its endowment without a big increase in tuition, students at six of the top 14 public universities are not as lucky. The University of California Regents announced a 32 percent increase in student fees at schools such as Berkeley and UCLA starting this year. The fee jump has resulted in protests at schools around the state.
An in-state undergraduate education at a UC school cost $8,352 at the begining of this year and an Out-of-state student would pay $30,022. (For comparison purposes, Princeton students pay $35,340.) The fee hike includes a mid-year fee increase of $585 due in January 2010. Undergraduate in-state fees are expected to be $10,302 next year. The Regents have promised increased financial aid to help low income students meet the increased costs.
The Regents argue that the fee increases are needed to cover the state budget cuts, which now pays half the amount per student compared to 1990, and a UC budget gap of $535 million.
Students retort that they can't cover such a steep increase in tuition, and are protesting to make their point. On Wednesday at the Regents meeting at UCLA, 14 people, 12 of whom were students, were arrested. Today students at Berkeley and Santa Cruz occupied campus buildings and protests have occurred at Berkeley, Davis, San Diego, UCLA and Santa Cruz.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
New Jersey's governors hate Princeton
What gives, guys?
It's been just two weeks since Chris Christie beat Gov. Jon Corzine in his bid for re-election. But Christie announced this week he'll follow Corzine's lead in at least one respect: he won't be staying at the governor's official residence here in Princeton.
Known as Drumthwacket, the 20-room mansion just west of campus hasn't had a permanent resident since 2004, when Jim McGreevey resigned after having an extramarital affair.
Interesting sidenote: Drumthwacket also surfaced in Mr. McGreevey’s divorce proceedings, when his wife argued that she had become accustomed to living at the executive mansion and should receive alimony commensurate with that lifestyle.
While Corzine didn't live at the 174-year-old mansion, he did recuperate there after he was seriously injured in 2007 when his SUV slammed into a guardrail at 91 miles per hour.
Instead of living in town, Christie will make a 80-minute commute from his home in Mendham to the state capitol in Trenton. L-A-M-E.
Big Weekend for Sports
Tonight at 7 p.m. at Roberts Stadium, the men's soccer team takes on Bucknell in the opening round of the NCAA tournament. This is Princeton's first appearance in the tourney since 2001. The Ivy League is well represented in this year's tournament: Harvard, Brown and Dartmouth are also competing. Recently, four of Princeton's five starting defenders earned All-Ivy honors. No doubt, solid defense will be crucial in tonight's matchup.
Diggin' In The Mudd: Has the Princeton community become passive?
While browsing Mudd this week, I found the following image, and I had to investigate.
This caught my attention because, lately, there's been much discussion of activism on the University campus. Many people seem to think that Princeton students are passive and don't care about anything outside the "bubble". The caption beneath the picture says, " Princeton students takeover the steps of the Institute for Defense Analysis, May 1970. The IDA protest was but one of many catalysts that led to the formation of the Special Committee on the Structure of the University."
The protest in the picture is in fact a protest of the Vietnam War. The protest was initiated by the Students for a Democratic Society after a student paper focused on the relationship between the Institute for Defense Analysis, on Princeton's campus, and Princeton University. Princeton leased a building to the IDA, a think tank initiated by the United States Department of Defense. This led to the view of many of campus, that the University's governance was supporting the Vietnam War and, by doing this, supporting corporate culture, the antithesis of the student movements present on so many college campuses at the time.
Protests of the building continued for years so much that by 1972, an article in the Deseret News says 190 students have been arrested during protests that year on Princeton's campus. Earlier protests, including the one in the picture, led to the creation of a committee to instigate change in the University's administration called The Committee on the Structure of the University. Later protests continued to bring nationwide attention to the issues on Princeton's campus and in society at the times, garnering national newspaper attention.
Today, there isn't nearly as much political activism on campus. Is this a function of the times or an indicator that Princeton students have become passive? The issue is up for debate, what do you think?
UFO Film for the weekend of November 19: "District 9"
The first half of "District 9" does such a good job setting up clever allegorical situations - this time, the humans oppress the aliens! - and lovingly sketching out an alternate universe that it feels like a missed opportunity when the film's second half turns into a conventional chase thriller. That said, first-time director Neill Blomkamp stages his action with the giddy glee of producer Peter Jackson's early horror movies, and the special effects are superior to those in blockbusters with 10 times this film's shoestring budget.
-Raj Ranade '10
20 Sweet: Cover Songs (Volume II)
Last year, 20 Sweet told you about some great covers, or songs in which one artist interprets the work of another.
But 20 wasn’t enough…so to help quench the eternal cover-thirst that I know some of us most definitely have, here are 20 more. Enjoy, and feel free to post other covers the Princeton world would be better off knowing!
1. “High and Dry” – Jamie Cullum (Radiohead cover)
2. “Free Fallin’” – John Mayer (Tom Petty cover)
3. “Sleepyhead” – Run Toto Run (Passion Pit cover)
4. “Thriller” – Imogen Heap (Michael Jackson cover)
5. “Three Little Birds” – Tracy Chapman (Bob Marley cover)
6. “Womanizer” – Lily Allen (Britney Spears cover)
7. “Sexual Healing” – Ben Harper (Marvin Gaye cover)
8. “Heartbeats” – Jose Gonzalez (The Knife cover)
9. “Valerie” – James Morrison (The Zutons cover)
10. “I Want You Back” – Discovery (Jackson 5 cover)
11. “My Girls” – :Kinema: (Animal Collective cover)
12. “Digital Love” – Alphabeat (Daft Punk cover)
13. “Dancing with Myself” – Nouvelle Vague (Billy Idol cover)
14. “I Will Follow You into the Dark” – Amy Millan (Death Cab for Cutie cover)
15. “Stillness is the Move” – Solange (Dirty Projectors cover)
16. “Superstition” – Estelle (Stevie Wonder cover)
17. “Time to Pretend” – Little Boots (MGMT cover)
18. “Under the Bridge” – Gym Class Heroes (Red Hot Chili Peppers cover)
19. “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue” – Crystal Antlers (Bob Dylan cover)
20. “Whatever You Like” – Anya Marina (T.I. cover)
Most of these songs are available for listening via Youtube or various music blogs.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
A John Oliver Primer
John Oliver, a correspondent on The Daily Show, is giving a performance at Richardson Auditorium this Saturday at 9 p.m. To prepare you for this here are several of Oliver's clips from The Daily Show.
His debut episode:
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| Parliament Light | ||||
| ||||
Thanks to the Fancy English Muffin Association:
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| London Flooding | ||||
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On the Queen-Michelle Obama '85 hug:
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| Changing of the Garb | ||||
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New York and Philadelphia Sports Fans:
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| Clash of the Cretins | ||||
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Planning Ahead: Job Search in the U.S. & Business Etiquette
This Friday, the Davis International Center & Career Services hosted a one hour talk entitled “Job Search in the U.S. & Business Etiquette”. In attendance were 15 international students, although the event proved to be useful to all undergraduates . Speakers emphasized the importance of starting the career-search process as soon as possible. According to the statistics presented, only 25-30% of positions available in the American job market are advertised in public media, and a website such as Monster.com will only have a 7% success rate. This huge void is compensated by jobs obtained through personal connections, and can account up to 70% of all job placements. Hence, networking –the process through which students establish contacts with friends, alumni and teachers who might help in future employment opportunities –is of paramount importance to the job search. Personal contacts are essential in guaranteeing both job positions and graduate school admissions, as well as in helping underclassmen identify their fields of interest.
Luckily, the Office of Career Services seeks to orient students in developing their networking skills. The following websites and databases will show listings for internships, mentoring, and other job opportunities:
1.Tiger Tracks: contains advertisements for internships and job opportunities obtained through the university. This is the main resource used during on-campus recruiting.
2.University Career Services: through a database that is shared with 21 other universities, this resource lists internships and fellowships available in a variety of fields, levels, and geographic regions. This is a great resource for students interested in fields that are not necessarily supported by a specific academic program at the university (i.e. – public relations).
3. Tiger Net: A mentorship program where alumni volunteer to advise students interested in their field of work. Many mentors will allow students to shadow them, as is done for the Princeternship program.
4.Alumni Careers Network: Upon graduation, all students will see their profile posted on this Princetonian database. Contains over 60,000 members and their respective resumes.
The speakers from the Office of Career Services gave several pointers on the etiquette of proper Business conduct. While many of these may seem obvious, they are essentially true and useful. For example, emails should always contain formal salutations and subject lines, while not being lengthy enough to require that the reader scroll down. While at an interview, don’t be shy but assertive, since confidence is valued by employers. Be prepared to answer the “why are you interested in this position” question, while conveying a genuine interest in the field. Oh, and apparently it really is important to master the art of the firm handshake. In addition, application materials should contain your name and the applicable job title in the file name if submitted electronically. Finally, beware of the information that you publicize through social-networking sites. Both employers and graduate schools will look to these resources, for further information on applicants. Learning how to manage your privacy settings on Facebook is key, and even the effectiveness of this is questionable since many speculate that firms will have unrestricted access to profile information. The thumb rule for job etiquette is: when in doubt, resort to the more formal, safer approach. Better safe than sorry.
Ivy Watch: Yale Applications Fall
Ivy Watch- News from around the Ivy League
Brown:
Research explores nerve cell regeneration
Brown researchers are exploring a path that could lead to regeneration of damaged nerve cells, resulting in resumed sensation in patients with nerve damage. If their research, which is based on biomedical engineering, is successful it would change our understanding of nerve cells.
Columbia:
Columbia professor charged with assault, harassment
A Columbia associate professor has been charged after punching a member of the Columbia School of Arts staff last week. The court date is not until 2010.
Cornell:
Student Group Pressures G.E. To Pull Business From Hotel
Workers United Union and Cornell Organization for Labor Action were planning to protest a keynote address given by the CEO G.E. at Cornell, but has decided against the action after convincing GE to move their employees from a local Holiday Inn. The hotel is under pressure after allegedly preventing workers from forming a union.
Dartmouth:
Border Patrol creates checkpoints
Dartmouth international students are being urged to carry proper IDs at all times after the US Border Patrol has established checkpoints near the school.
Harvard:
Faculty Diversity Report Released
Harvard releases report on faculty demographics which shows an overall increase in the number of female and minority faculty members between 2003 and 2009, however, the percentage of female junior faculty members fell slightly between 2008 and 2009.
Penn:
Students to decide on UA reform
Penn faces a referendum as whether to popularly elect leaders of the Undergraduate Assembly. Currently executive positions are filled through internal elections.
Yale
Early applications fall 5 percent
The number of Yale early applications all from 5,556 for the Class of 2013 to 5,265 for the Class of 2014. The Dean of Undergraduate Admissions expects no change in admissions rate, however.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
CDY and the Presidential Boogie
In case you missed this weekend's concert with the Nassoons and Whiffenpoofs, here's our very own USG president Connor Diemand-Yauman '10 performing one of the evening's big hits. Its backed by the Nassoons recording of Shama Lama off their CD Nassoons 2008.
Monday, November 16, 2009
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Figures of Speech: As winter approaches...
Goldman Sachs Summer Firmwide Information Session Presented by Lloyd Blankfein
Monday, Nov 16, 6:30 PM – 1 hour, 30 minutes – Careers
Nassau Inn
At this session, you will have the opportunity to hear from CEO Lloyd Blankfein about Goldman Sachs and its future. Also, representatives and school alumni from various divisions will be there for the networking portion of the event.
Student Dinner with President Tilghman
Wednesday, Nov 18, 6:30 PM – 2 hours – Other
Lowrie House, 83 Stockton Street
President Shirley M. Tilghman extends an invitation to students to join her for dinner at Lowrie House on Wednesday, November 18 at 6:30 p.m.
RSVP by November 17 to Susan Kovach at skovach@princeton.edu.
"Social Entrepreneurship: A Rising Generation Changing the World"
Thursday, Nov 19, 4:30 PM – 1 hour – Lectures
Carl A. Fields Center
Professor Gordon Bloom, the Keller Center's Dean’s Visiting Professor in Entrepreneurship, will give a lecture titled “Social Entrepreneurship: A Rising Generation Changing the World” on Thursday, November 19 at 4:30 p.m. Select students from Professor Bloom’s class, A Collaboratory for Social Entrepreneurship (SE Lab), will also present their entrepreneurial endeavors during the lecture. The event will be held in the new Carl A. Fields Center.
Working for the...University
There are a variety of positions available for students on campus from Writing Center Fellow to Dining Services Clean-up Crew and Library Desk Attendant. Students working for the University can earn between $7.80 an hour to $14.40 an hour depending on the position and the number of hours worked. How does this compare to student pay at other universities? The Chronicle for Higher Education developed a list positions and pay at universities around the nation.
The lowest paid positions on the list recieve less than that of Princeton students. At the University of Montana, for example, students earn $7.25 as a student custodian. Or, if you attend the University of Denver you could earn between $13.50 and $19 as a psychology student research assistant. The best paid position, that of Mario the Dragon at Drexel University, provides partial tuition.
Alumni Remembrances: Mohsin Hamid '93
This week, we have a contribution by Mohsin Hamid '93, author of Moth Smoke (2000) and The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007)!
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WHEN UPDIKE SAVED ME FROM MORRISON (AND MYSELF)
By Mohsin Hamid
One day in the spring of 1993, Toni Morrison took me out for lunch. It was my last semester at Princeton, and I was in her long-fiction creative writing workshop. I'd done two semesters of short story work with Joyce Carol Oates, and I hoped to be a novelist. So I was writing fast. I think we had to produce thirty or forty or fifty pages for Toni. I'd hit a hundred and was still going.
We sat and chatted and ate (what I don't remember, but it included fries). I told her I'd gotten into law school. I told her I was planning to take time off first, to head back to Pakistan and write. I told her I'd been cooking for myself this year. I told her I made a mean pasta and she ought to give it a try. Really? she said. Yeah, I said. I invited her down to the basement kitchen of Edwards Hall and told her she wouldn't be disappointed.
To my surprise, she said she'd come. It better not be over-boiled spaghetti in some sauce out of a can, she warned me. I smiled. Confident. As we left the restaurant she noticed a paperback hidden between notebooks and printouts in my hands. She asked me what it was. I told her it was Jazz. She asked if it was the first of hers I'd picked up. I confessed it was. She signed it for me. Then she said, Read Beloved, it's good.
I still remember how she said it: good. Drawn-out. Beautiful and powerful, the way words she spoke often were. When she read our stuff out loud to us in class, it sounded like literature. So I picked up Beloved next. And she was right. It was good.
I thought I was pretty good myself back then. I thought the novel I was writing was good. I thought my cooking was good. I was twenty-one years old and didn't know better, thank goodness. And luckily for me, Toni never showed up for that pasta.
Instead, I got a message on my answering machine from her assistant. Toni couldn't make it that day, sadly. John Updike (I think it was Updike) had come to campus. I hadn't yet read Updike but the name sounded familiar. I called back and said no problem.
It wasn't until later that it occurred to me my cooking might not have been quite as good as I thought it was. My pasta was indeed spaghetti. It was probably over-boiled. And while the sauce didn't come out of a can, it did come out of a bottle. All I really did was add some hot chillies to it. And maybe a couple of other spices. But maybe not.
Why I was so proud of it, I can't now for the life of me recall.
As for the novel I was writing, I finished a draft for her class. Toni liked it enough to ask me to read from it at the annual end-of-year creative writing event. I still have a manuscript with several pages of her exquisitely fountain-penned suggestions on the reverse. I figured I was almost done.
It wasn't ready for publication for another seven years.
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Battle of the Ivy League FMLs
FML. Those 3 letters have quickly worked their way into our daily vocabularies after the birth of fmylife.com. If you’re not aware of the site, all I can say is treat yourself to an FML, get out more. Harvard felt the need to have its own FML. Yale followed suit recently. Should Princeton establish one? I posed this question to a fellow classmate recently and received the response: “YES. We have grade deflation! Harvard gives out A’s like candy!” In any case, whether we choose to lament over our lack of A’s or other woes, I hope that Princetonians would be better at constructing FMLs than our counterparts: “Sometimes I don’t have time to pee in the morning. FML” (Yale) or “I did not have time to go to CVS to buy shampoo, so I washed my hair with a bar of soap. Hey, at least I washed my hair, right? FML” (Harvard). Harvard, shampoo is soap! Come on, Princeton, we should be able to do better than this!
Nancy Pelosi comes to Princeton
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was in town today, visiting the University Medical Center of Princeton as she tours the country promoting health care reform.
Pelosi and Rep. Rush Holt, who represents the University in Congress, toured the hospital and then discussed the legislation with reporters.
Doesn't sound like Pelosi made it to campus, but she was here last December for a Chancellor Green roundtable on science and technology.
Friday, November 13, 2009
On Tap this Weekend: Men's Soccer vs. Yale; Field Hockey vs. Stanford
Tonight at Roberts Stadium, the men's soccer team takes on Yale in an important contest that has league-wide implications. Tomorrow, at Class of 1952 Stadium, the No. 4 field hockey team aims to keep its NCAA championship hopes alive against No. 14 Stanford.
The men's soccer team has been on a roll as of late, having not lost a contest in its last six attempts. The Tigers need to beat the Bulldogs tonight to keep their Ivy League title hopes alive. But the Orange and Black also needs help from other teams. Here's what also has to happen: Dartmouth and Brown need to tie and No. 11 Harvard must lose to Penn. The matchup between the Tigers and the Bulldogs will be shown on the Fox Soccer Channel.
Even if Princeton does not capture the Ivy League title, it can still earn a bid to the NCAA tournament. The Tigers have played a particularly tough schedule this year, and a No. 14 RPI ranking should work to their advantage.
The field hockey team plays Stanford at 11:30 a.m. tomorrow in the opening round of the NCAA tournament. It is a chance for Princeton to further prove that it can compete with, and win against, the best in the nation.
In addition to going 7-0 against Ancient Eight rivals, the Tigers have also defeated highly-ranked opponents like Syracuse, Ohio State and Connecticut during the regular season. Because of its high national ranking, Princeton earned the opportunity to host the first rounds of the NCAA tournament. The home-field advantage should serve the team well, since the Tigers are undefeated at home this season.
If Princeton advances past Stanford, it will play the winner of the matchup between No. 8 Syracuse and No. 9 Boston College. That opening-round game will be played at 2 p.m. tomorrow.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Time passes on Shirley T. with list of 10 best presidents
Another day, another list of college-related rankings.
Today, we turn to Time Magazine, which has created a list of "The 10 Best College Presidents" in the country.
Noticeably absent from the list? One Shirley Marie Tilghman. That aside, here's a list of the folks they chose:
1. E. Gordon Gee, Ohio State University.
2. John Sexton, New York University
3. Mary Sue Coleman, University of Michigan
4. Michael Crow, Arizona State University- Tempe
5. Scott Cowen, Tulane University
6. Ronald Liebowitz, Middlebury College
7. Freeman Hrabowski, University of Maryland
8. Eduardo Padron, Miami Dade College
9. Juliet Garcia, University of Texas-Brownsville
10. Mark Yudof, University of California
Diggin' in the Mudd: Only a 56 percent failure rate!
There was a time when Princeton admissions weren't so strict. In fact, they weren't strict at all. It may be hard to believe but check out this document from the Mudd!
Image copyright the Seely G Mudd Manuscript Library Archives
Published Nov 4, 1908 this article states that recently compiled statistics "vinidicate the position of those who defend raising standards of college entrance requirements". The new requirements were not a "huge deterrent effect on prospective students" and "the new class revealed in the entrance examination, the best scholarship ever shown by Princeton freshman".
Which meant? Of 360 students, 44% didn't fail any subject exams! Another 22% only failed one exam! Yay! The non-failures are now free of conditions upon their entrance to Princeton, whereas the failures will have a certain number of conditions corresponding to the classes they failed.
By contrast, 0% of this year's entering class had below 1500 on the modern equivalent to the entrance exam the SAT.
In case you're confused, Mudd tells us that admissions decisions were based on oral examination until the mid 19th century. The president made decisions and sometimes he gave the exam! Written examinations started gradually and by 1888 could be taken in several locations all over the country. After World War I there was a surge in applications and a selective admission's policy, more difficult than the one discussed in the above article, had to be instituted. In 1922 the Admissions Office was created and through 1950 they created our modern application process. Affirmative action was introduced in the 1960s and women were allowed in in 1969. Until 1922 whoever passed the exams was automatically accepted.
The good old days...
Sympoh's Break Dancing Symposium
On most Sunday nights, Sympoh, Princeton University’s own break dancing troupe, can be seen practicing their craft amid blasting music and a general feeling of relaxation and camaraderie.
“I love the feeling of relaxation and the feeling that you can just come in and do what you want,” said new Sympoh member Sabrina Siu ’13.
Break dancing is an inherently individual art and sport. The mental images that break dancing conjure, of people in a tight circle around one performer, are not far off; performances here at Princeton are staffed by anyone who gets on stage and has been to a practice session or two.
“Whoever can show up performs,” said Kohei Noda ’11, one of the presidents. “There are gigs throughout the year, in which everyone is invited to perform.”
The actual performances are similarly unregimented—there is no preset order.
“Whoever is feeling the music, or whoever wants to go in, goes in,” said Noda.
The actual group on campus is more of a cooperative than a group. The practices are essentially a chance to learn new moves from the more experienced dancers and to have an open forum for practicing the complex contortions involved in break dancing.
The rank-and-file members slowly walk anywhere from nine to ten at night (practice nominally begins at 9:00 pm), and after saying hi to a couple of people, start stretching and dancing. Head stands, spinning and stationary, and hand stands are just two of the unquantifiable moves that the group undertakes, with arms and legs moving in skewed directions all while maintaining a balanced rhythm.
Anyone is welcome to these practices according to Chisom (Mimi) Ohuoha ’11, the other president of Sympoh.
“My interest in break dancing was almost accidental. Kohei…let me know about the group’s spring try-outs. Once I made it into the group, and learned more about the dance and the culture, I found myself losing my initial flippant approach and now I’m pretty attached to it,” said Onuoha.
Despite the seeming informality of the group, their quality is undiminished, the constant scene of bouncing bodies attests to their skill.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
UFO Film for the Weekend of Nov. 12: A Serious Man
Forget the movie - the trailer for "A Serious Man" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iggyFPls4w) alone outclasses most of the film schlock released this year. Using rhythmic editing, a carefully assembled collage of sound, and the repetition of vividly surreal images, the trailer puts together the story of a man's life falling apart and tops it off with a killer punchline. The movie only expands on this quality - Joel and Ethan Coen's new film is an impeccably shot, acted, and directed look at a man hopelessly struggling with the universe's toughest questions. It's also hilarious - you won't be able to forget the punchline that is the final shot of the film either.
-Raj Ranade '10
The lady and the queen
When Alexander McQueen premiered these frightening wonders in Paris for Spring 2010, there was some skepticism, especially in light of the recession, about who exactly would wear such fabulously impractical shoes. Little did we know that the answer was pulsating through the speakers of his show; Lady Gaga, whose preference for no pants inspired some pretty frightening Halloween costumes this year, wore them (along with a slew of other McQueen items) in the video of her new single, “Bad Romance”. Well if anyone could pull off gigantic Armadillo shoes, it’s the woman who once wore a dress made of bubbles.
Associated Press sinks lower than 'Prince'
Everyone on campus likes to hate on the 'Prince' for covering non-news stories (see: Typical Tiger and our feature on the cemetery and ... our other feature on the cemetery).
But the Associated Press sank to a lower level than even we have reached in recent days, with an article about how a New Jersey Transit train missed its stop at Princeton Junction.
We feel superior.
UPDATE: The coverage continues! Today, The Times of Trenton has joined in the fray with this article examining the reasons for the missed stop.
Among the gems of fine reporting featured in this article, take special note of enlightening quotes by commuters like Brian O'Leary, who notes, "I knew we were very close to Princeton Junction, but the train was moving awfully fast."
Coming soon: The Prince's take on the missed stop debacle. "God, it would suck to have been on that train," Susie McStudent '13 said. "Like, if I saw we were coming up on Princeton Junction and the train kept moving awfully fast. Yeah, that would suck."
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