I think the last time I bought a new phone Aladdin was trading in his old lamp for a new one… and I felt the same way about it. My old phone ( a Treo) had great sentimental value to me as it had belonged to my daughter Kristin. The Treo was already getting fairly ‘long in the blu tooth’ but it was a big upgrade from the General Patton era ‘portable phone’ I had been using. Finally, I upgraded.
The htc phone from Sprint takes a bit of getting used to, but I am enjoying it immensely…. especially being able to see full screen versions of Facebook, tweet , watch video and all the typical stuff with 8 gigs of memory. My Uncle Cal ( a physicist by training ) would have loved it.
Now — as my daughters say — I won’t look too ‘hobo’ when I interact with the technophiles in San Francisco this weekend.
Our daughter Karenhas always enjoyed the internet beginning with her first ‘Val Kilmer’ fan site in the 7th grade. Soon, her siteevolved to a discussion platform for her track and field friends along with publishing a popular web based newsletter. During this time, she encountered many of the troubling issues that face athletes, celebrities and almost everyone who frequents the internet. The same questions came up over and over: how do I make a good reputation? How do I prevent a bad one from developing? And How do I get old stuff ‘off’ that continues to cause problems .
Today, Karen gave a lecture on the impact of social media on reputation management to a Psychology class at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and hoped to answer some of these questions for students. By ‘iclicker’ , she discovered that virtually all of the students were on social media! Consequently, many students find themselves haunted by embarrassing pictures of themselves on the internet and some deeds … well, that they wished others didn’t know about. By example, Olympian swimmer Michael Phelps learned this the hard way. I am told, Karen offered helpful advice.
It was something to think about…
Roger Freberg
(too bad Cal Poly administrators weren’t around to listen)
From what I am told, David Conn is a reasonable and personable fellow, just the person to give what some are calling Cal Poly’s “Committee of Inquisition” a happy face. I even had people tell me NOT to find any pictures of David Conn in a clown suit on the internet, because he was a such ‘nice guy.’ However, it has been my observation that much of the problems, dare I say ‘evil’, in the world has been supported, initiated and perpetuated by so-called ‘good people’ who believe they were just doing their job and ‘following orders.’ Psychologist Stanley Milgram might agree.
For some reason, Cal Poly’s administration believes there are not enough organizations and systems to handle the various complaints on campus and decreed that a new select committee would be set up and apparently given broad powers and a curious mandate. In addition, the committee would exist without the customary review by the faculty and staff unions or the faculty academic senate… in essence, it would be accountable to no one. Apparently, it would be ‘outside the law.’ It doesn’t take a genius to realize how easily this committee could be used — backed by ‘anonymous’ or non existent accusations — to punish with impunity.
In an attempt to reassure and assuage his colleagues, the affable David Conn was quoted in the recent past Academic Senate Executive meeting as saying,”
“If accusations are made, the way we handled it is more important. It is not the intention for this to become a witch-hunt unless there is an appropriate base.”
The term ‘witch hunt’ is disturbingly powerful as is the phrase “unless there is an appropriate base.”
One of the student member of the committee jokingly referred to as the ‘Inquisitorial Squad” clearly called for action against faculty not viewed as ‘politically correct:”
With Cal Poly’s history in federal court and in fairness to students and faculty, I would urge Cal Poly’s Administration from continuing on this path as it will no doubt lead to unnecessary grief to those guilty of nothing more than a difference in opinion.
Cal Poly needs not be on the wrong side of history once again.
There are not too many simple items that will get people talking like,”who makes the best ribs?” What always amuses me is that most folks who cook ribs take way too many shortcuts. The reason for the shortcuts is like that for all recipes: to save time and money. The major complaints I have heard about cooked ribs are: 1) too fatty, 2) too tough, and 3) some general complaints about the sauce. Each of these can be addressed easily.
Take a little more time and spend a little more money and it is all worth it.
Step 1) I like to soak my ribs in a brine solution made with beer and a few spices familiar to those who enjoy curing meat. ( 1 week)
Step 2 ) I boil the ribs until the meat begins to leave the bone.
Step 3) I season the meat with a general seasoning ( salt, black pepper and garlic powder) and follow up with a hotter seasoning containing cayenne pepper or pimenton.
Step 4) I cover the ribs with a specially prepared tomato-y bbq sauce containing the sweetness of brown sugar and the bite of things. ( I have taken shortcuts here at times with various hot sauces) ( 3 or 4 days)
Step 5) Bake at 375 degrees for 40 minutes….
soaking in the beer brine solution
Okay… I didn’t give you the full recipe… my mother-in-law always tried to get it from me and if she couldn’t…. well..
Maybe not every minor problem Cal Poly San Luis Obispo has with students, faculty or staff has to end up in Federal Court. I would like to hope that folks can learn from their mistakes, take advice from those who wish to make Cal Poly a better place and , hopefully, avoid stepping into it the next time.
Recently, I blogged about what many have called “Cal Poly’s Inquisition Board” to ferret out Professors and students who were deemed not “politically correct.” With the sweet sounding name of ‘Care-net’, Cal Poly was at the threshold of setting up a system whereby students and faculty would be held accountable to anonymous accusations and standards not based on law, but pernicious whim. IMHO, this would be a virtual system outside of union contracts, Cal Poly code of conduct standards and common sense… as well as the law.
F.I.R.E. ( the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education) recognized immediately the arena into which Cal Poly was entering and wrote a stern and forceful letter in defense of faculty and students at Cal Poly. The result: Cal Poly is reevaluating the Care-net program.
I was able to find two cached pages of the ill fated Care-Net that are worth reading.
The only question that remains for those of us with decades of experience in dealing with Cal Poly: Will Cal Poly walk away from initiating a “Board of Inquisition”… or will they work harder to not be discovered?
In any event,there are a lot of folks watching to see the next steps Cal Poly administration takes … thanks toF.I.R.E.
