Davidson, globalization: Attended a gathering at Davidson with John on Global Connections and so enjoyed being in the educational environment. We heard from Chris Alexander on Tunisia, Shelly Ridder on China, a student panel of 4 current students (2 international students currently at Davidson and 2 US students who recently returned from India and Syria, respectively) and skyped with a student in the Dominican Republic and another in Egypt. Fascinating.
Williams’ commitment to the best possible study-abroad experience for every student is front and center, especially now: this year’s campus theme is “Global Connections.”
… Here is a list of the topics I encountered at this gathering:
- Tunisia and it’s recent turmoil. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunisia
- McWorld
The two axial principles of our age — tribalism and globalism — clash at every point except one: they may both be threatening to democracy by Benjamin R. Barber
http://www.globalissues.org/print/article/374 - clash of civilizations … http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/48950/samuel-p-huntington/the-clash-of-civilizations
- Devolution of rights
- Wars of necessity v. Wars of choice
- Minutization, transnational travel, communication
- Warmaking values: great moral good v great moral evil (language of religion) or non religious. We use language of religion.
- Privatized predatory corruption.
- Power Transition theory … http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_transition_theory
- Rising Power Theory … http://mearsheimer.uchicago.edu/pdfs/A0034.pdf
- MIddle Kingdom Syndrome …
Some even say that the restoration of an international order where the Middle Kingdom gains supremacy in the region and beyond is on the agenda of the Chinese leadership.
An October article in the online edition of the U.S.-based ‘Foreign Policy’ magazine claimed that Beijing has abandoned its philosophy of a “peaceful rise”. It argues that China is harking back to a Sino-centric view of the world where it sits atop the political hierarchy and other sovereign states are seen as lesser entities in deference to the Middle Kingdom.
Disquiet about the revival of a Sino-centric mentality among the Chinese ruling elite has surfaced even in hardcore nationalistic media outlets like China’s ‘Global Times’ newspaper.
“China’s success is the result of reform and opening up but success has not brought a more open mind. On the contrary, it has caused the return of a self-centred ideology,” said a signed opinion piece on Oct. 11. “The cultures around China have, historically, worried about being engulfed by other powerful civilisations. Now they feel uncomfortable with …China’s over- emphasis on its own civilisation,” it said.
… and John and I kept looking around the room wondering if maybe the next college president was sitting with us. 🙂
Apps: While at Davidson I took notes on my iPad. I think I will get this App and try it next time I am in that environment.
PaperDesk for iPad ($1.99)
If you want a fully featured do-everything inking app, PaperDesk for iPad is the one for you. It has all of the basic features you’d expect to find in an inking app, such as five different paper types, plus a rainbow of ink color choices and full control over brightness, opacity, and pen size. But there’s a lot more to PaperDesk than that: it allows you to combine text, sketches, and audio recordings on the same page. That means that you can record your class lectures and take notes at the same time!
This app also solves the problem I mentioned with Penultimate, because it slightly shrinks the drawing area and minimizes the toolbar when in landscape mode. It isn’t a perfect solution, but it greatly reduces the amount of scrolling necessary while still offering a large drawing surface.
You can sync your notes with myPaperDesk.com, ensuring that all of your notes will always be accessible. Notes can also be shared via email. At just $1.99 for the full version in the App Store, this is a must-buy app for anyone who takes notes by hand. If you’re still not sure, a free lite version is available, which limits you to three notebooks.
via Best Student Organizer and Notetaking Apps for the iPad.
college, application process, UNC-CH: Using the Common App increases applications 15-20 percent!
More than 400 universities currently use the Common Application in an effort to simplify the college admissions process.
“It allows the student to fill out an application one time and then to choose the colleges among those members of the group to submit the application to,” said Barbara Polk, deputy director of undergraduate admissions.
UNC would expect an increase of 15 to 20 percent in total applicants if the Common Application were enacted, Polk said, adding that peer institutions such as the University of Virginia and University of Michigan-Ann Arbor experienced similar increases when they adopted the application.
Triangle-area schools such as Duke University and Meredith College in Raleigh have already adopted the Common Application.
“Most of the top-tier colleges in the country use the Common Application, and we’re one of the few that don’t,” Polk said. “That isn’t necessarily good for the positioning of the University.”
via The Daily Tar Heel :: UNC may switch to the Common Application.
education, Davidson: Interesting history of courses at Davidson.
In the spring of 1911, the college issued a new college catalog – one that contained a small but significant shift. The course listings for 1909-1901o catalog included a heading for Mental and Moral Philosophy. The new catalog listed Philosophy and Psychology.
The name change signals a shift in ideas about classical education and the acceptance of new academic fields. Davidson College had offered a course in Mental Philosophy since its beginnings, usually offered only to seniors and as part of a collection of “philosophies”–moral, natural, mechanical, and mental -using readings from classical authors to explain the wonders of the natural world and humankind. Three years earlier, the February 1908 catalog carried the first listing for a class in Biology. Seven years earlier than that (taking us back to 1901), the college had its first president with a Ph.D.
iPhone: Edward has been holding out for a white one.
You probably hear a rumor about the white iPhone 4 once a week, but it seems this time the news might be true. Macrumors has received a screenshot of what supposedly is a Best Buy inventory database showing that the mythical product will be available in stock February 27, just in time for a late Valentine’s Day present. It could be a well thought out prank, but the SKU and model numbers match the ones that Best Buy issued when the white iPhone was available for pre-order last year before Apple delayed the release.
via Best Buy: Nothing To Share or Announce This Time About White iPhone 4 – Techland – TIME.com.
media, technology, changes: It’s definitely changed how and when I read.
Printed media used to allow us to read in the places we found most comfortable. When you imagine yourself reading the newspaper it’s probably in your favorite chair, at the breakfast table, or at the cafe with an orange mocha frappuccino in your hand.
Unfortunately, as news and media moves online, it moves us away from these places and into our desk chairs. Even worse, consuming content is no longer on our own schedule. The flood of content disrupts us all day as if we have an maniacal paperboy throwing new editions on our doorstep every 15 seconds.
However, after studying Read It Later’s own data, it seems that this trend is being reversed. I’ve found that as devices become more mobile, it’s not only changing where we read, but when. Today, I’d like to show you some of the data behind this movement.
Apple: I hate to admit it but I am part of the cult.
The difference, and the reason for the near-hysteria and the mammoth market reaction, is that Apple isn’t just any old stock, it is the quintessential cult stock. One of the reasons that Apple is a cult stock is what we’re seeing today: an unhealthy obsession with its founder and CEO.
Now don’t get me wrong. I share the high regard that everybody seems to have for Steve Jobs, just as I understand why the company’s products seem to engender such fanatical, cult-like loyalty. He is certainly one of the truly outstanding figures of our time, and his products are said to be pretty darn good too.
…
The cult factor, however, is something that is beyond the control of this or any company. Shareholders need to get a grip. They need to realize that, whether the company says so or not, the CEO of this company may very well be a very sick man. They also need to realize that even if they aren’t cultists themselves, this company has a fanatical following, and that its share price is subject to rapid and severe movement — particularly, as happened today, when the reason is Steve Jobs.
etiquette, politics, diplomacy:
But what to do with the Clintons, Bill and Hillary?
Former President Bill Clinton and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived for the State Dinner.Mandel Ngan/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Former President Bill Clinton and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived for the State Dinner.
Should the secretary of state, Hillary Rodham Clinton, be listed as the invited guest, with Mr. Clinton as her “plus one”?
Or does that honor automatically go to former presidents, with Mrs. Clinton as the tag-along?
Alas, neither would do. And so the pair are simply listed separately:
The Honorable Hillary R. Clinton, Secretary of State; the Honorable William J. Clinton, former President of the United States.
Ah, diplomacy.
csr, globalization, business models: Interesting perspective.
COMPANY towns used to be common in the West. The Cadburys and Rowntrees built them in England, as did William Hesketh Lever, founder of what is now Unilever. At one point the United States had more than 3,000 of them. They were particularly popular in the South and West, and in the mining and lumber industries. But they have long since disappeared, destroyed by the motorcar, the cult of corporate focus, and the general maturing of the economy.
As so often, what is dying in the West is surviving or being reborn in the emerging world. New company towns are being constructed from nothing, most notably in China. And old ones are being given a new lease of life. But even with all this new activity Jamshedpur, the corporate headquarters of Tata Steel and home of its biggest steel plant, continues to lead the pack.
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The Western doctrine of “corporate social responsibility” (CSR) has also given the founder’s very Victorian vision a new lease of life.
technology, viruses, history:
Has it been 25 years already? Jump in the Wayback Machine and check out this TIME article that details the first ever PC virus.
Brothers Amjad and Basit Alvi of Lahore, Pakistan ran a neighborhood computer shop specializing in PC repair and software sales. After Amjad caught wind that one of the programs he’d written was being pirated, he leaked copies containing “a self-replicating program that would ‘infect’ an unauthorized user’s computer, disrupt his operations and force him to contact Amjad for repairs,” according to the article.
And with that, the first PC virus was born. It was January of 1986.
via Happy Birthday, Jerk: First PC Virus Born 25 Years Ago – Techland – TIME.com.
random, literature, end of an era, RIP: Rest in Peace, Poe Toaster!
Culture
The Man Who Leaves Roses on Edgar Allan Poe’s Grave Every Year Has Disappeared
One of the best pieces of arcana of American letters is the man known as the “Poe Toaster.” Every year on January 19 (Edgar Allan Poe’s birthday), the toaster appears in the Baltimore graveyard where the author is buried and leaves a half-empty bottle of cognac and four roses. No one knows his identity or his motives. Last year, for the first time in 60 years, the mysterious man did not show up. Last night, he failed to show up again, leaving many to think that the tradition is now over.
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I like to imagine the sons of the Poe Toaster feeling incredible guilt and meeting some sad punishment for not carrying out their father’s legacy, as would befit people tied up in a Poe story. As is, you have to imagine the impostors will continue. Perhaps we can anoint one of them the new Poe Toaster, as this tradition is simply too poignant for us to give up. And, really, the poor soul needs his cognac.
technology, business: I tried to buy one …
And on Wednesday LivingSocial is making waves with a deal for another major, national retailer; it is selling $20 Amazon.com gift cards for $10.
But LivingSocial’s Amazon discount has an unusual wrinkle. Unlike with other deals, LivingSocial might be losing money selling the Amazon coupons.
Typically, retailers sell the coupons directly to consumers for the discounted price, and LivingSocial takes a cut, generally 30 percent. But for this deal, LivingSocial bought the gift cards from Amazon and is selling them itself.
LivingSocial declined to say how much it paid Amazon for the gift cards. Amazon also said it would not disclose the terms of the deal.
If LivingSocial paid Amazon $20, then LivingSocial is absorbing the losses. If it paid Amazon less, then Amazon is losing money.
via LivingSocial Gets Attention for Amazon Discount – NYTimes.com.
random, technology: toasters … and the winner is a Kalorik Aqua 2-Slice Toaster … a brand I have never heard of!
Today, even the simplest toasters come with fancy features like digital countdown timers, bagel buttons, “hi-lift” levers to remove hot toast, and defrost functions. But have more than 80 years of innovations accomplished the basic goal of producing golden-brown toast, fast? We gathered seven 2-slot toasters priced from $30 to almost $70 and tested them on bagels, toaster pastries, frozen waffles, and, above all, bread.
Two of the toasters couldn’t even fit a slice of our favorite supermarket white bread, Arnold. We had to bend the bread to make it fit, scorching it on the side where the slice curved too closely to the heat. When we tried turning the slices to their short sides, the last inch stuck out.
high school, education, parochial schools, Charlotte: When parachochial schools are closing down in many parts of the country, Charlotte’s diocese is adding a new high school. Definitely refects the changing character of Charlotte.
The new Christ the King Catholic High School, which is scheduled to open this fall at a temporary location in Huntersville, will host a meeting Thursday to update families on progress on the new school.Newly hired project director Daniel Dolan will lead the meeting, which will be at 7 p.m. at St. Therese Catholic Church, on Brawley School Road in Mooresville.The new school will be run by the Catholic Diocese of Charlotte. Mr. Dolan came to the diocese recently after many years of service to the Catholic Schools in the Diocese of Richmond and Arlington, Va.
via New Catholic H.S. hosts meeting Thursday | DavidsonNews.net.
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