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03 Mar 2011 22:29

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U.S.: Harvard finally recognizes the ROTC again – four decades later

  • then The ROTC was blocked from Harvard’s campus at the height of the Vietnam War. Later, the group was blocked largely because of the military’s record on gay rights.
  • nowLargely because of the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell,” Harvard will now formally recognize the Naval ROTC. It only took 41 years for the change to happen. source
  • » Harvard’s take: “Our renewed relationship affirms the vital role that the members of our Armed Forces play in serving the nation and securing our freedoms, while also affirming inclusion and opportunity as powerful American ideals,” said university president Dr. Drew Gilpin Faust. She sounds very positive about the change, doesn’t she?
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

06 Mar 2010 14:14

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Tech: Mark Zuckerberg’s dirty laundry from Harvard aired out

  • Someone is already trying to make a dating site. But they made a mistake haha. They asked me to make it for them. So I’m like delaying it so it won’t be ready until after the facebook thing comes out.
  • Mark Zuckerberg (as reported by The Business Insider) • Regarding an awkward situation he found himself in in late 2003 and early 2004, where he was asked to work on a site that competed with the basic idea of Facebook. Evidence obtained by The Business Insider suggests that Zuckerberg essentially stalled so that he would be able to launch Facebook first – which wasn’t so heavy on the dating element as HarvardConnection.com, the other site. Other fun allegations made by the site: Zuckerberg reportedly hacked into e-mail accounts of Harvard Crimson reporters and deactivated accounts on competing site ConnectU. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

18 Feb 2010 10:56

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U.S.: Amy Bishop had a case of Amazon Fever, John Irving worship

  • Her unpublished novel“Amazon Fever” holds some clues to her mental state. In “Fever,” the main character, Olivia, is an Alabama professor who attempts to revive her career by going to the Amazon and trying to figure out why a strange disease is killing monkeys.
  • her anxieties Peppered within, though, are anxieties that seem to be Bishop’s own – mainly about being a successful scientist. It’s something Bishop may have struggled with – a Harvard graduate, she was at a small-time university and was embarrassed of her beat-up car.
  • her second cousinThe suspect in the University of Alabama-Huntsville shootings, who had been denied tenure, was also a second cousin of novelist John Irving, writer of “The Cider House Rules.” Friends say that, along with her Harvard pedigree, made her a wee bit arrogant. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

28 Jan 2010 09:57

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Offbeat: Evolution says the barefooted will outlast those wearing shoes

  • Barefoot running is reportedly safer than wearing Nikes. A new study by Harvard researchers claims that running in your bare feet is actually safer and hurts less than wearing sneakers. Why? Because when you run in shoes, your feet plod onto the ground heels-first and can feel painful very quickly. Bare feet decentralize that impact, landing on the ball or middle of their feet. It sounds like a good idea, but the second a barefoot runner hits some glass, he’s gonna totally regret it. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

29 Oct 2009 20:25

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U.S.: Henry Louis Gates and James Crowley have another Beer Summit

  • No Obama was needed this time. “River Gods” in Cambridge is now a vapid landmark. Back in July, a much simpler time for our country, the president got in the middle of a festering racial tussle between Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates and police officer James Crowley. It became a massive, unlikely news story – the president drinking a beer with a couple of guys he built a media controversy around. At the time, the professor and the cop said they might meet up again. They appeared to do so last night at a Cambridge pub called “River Gods,” which we’re sure is loving the press. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

23 Jul 2009 09:15

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U.S.: When not discussing health care, Obama jumped head-first into race

  • … the Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof that they were in their own home …
  • President Barack Obama • Discussing last week’s arrest of Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. during last night’s prime-time press conference. (BTW, in case you’re wondering – we’d quote the whole sentence, but the sentence was particularly massive, and this was the important part.) Obama’s stance on the Gates issue stands out because it may be the furthest he’s stuck his neck out on any one race issue since going into office. It was the moment – even beyond all of the health care gobbledygook – which will stand out from this press conference. Last week, his statement on role models also stood out for similar reasons. • source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

21 Jul 2009 14:32

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U.S.: Cambridge police will forget about the Harvard professor arrest

  • I think both parties were wrong. I think that’s fair to say. It wasn’t Professor Gates’ best moment. and it was not the Cambridge Police Department’s best moment.
  • Cambridge Police Department Spokeswoman Kelly Downes • Regarding the drama that both the police department and Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. went through after Gates was arrested last week for disorderly conduct. While Downes says there was “probable cause” to arrest the professor, both the police department and Gates are looking to get the drama behind them. Gates’ arrest stirred up lots of criticism due to the fact that he’s black and the circumstances appeared to be racial profiling. • source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 3 Comments • Permalink
 

20 Jul 2009 23:08

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U.S.: Note to Cambridge cops: Don’t arrest black Harvard professors

  • My colleagues and I have asked the question of whether this kind of egregious act would have happened had Professor Gates been a white professor. We think that it has to be investigated, and we are deeply saddened by what happened.
  • Harvard Medical School Professor Dr. S. Allen Counter • Regarding the arrest of Henry Louis Gates Jr., Harvard’s top African-American scholar. Gates was arrested after attempting to get inside his home, only to find the door jammed. A neighbor spotted him and his cab driver, thinking it was a break-in, and called the police. Gates, who had gotten inside by the time police came, was harassed by an officer and ultimately put in custody for a number of hours. So let this be a lesson to you: If you’re a cop in Cambridge, ten to one, a black guy trying to get into a house in a nice neighborhood is probably doing nothing wrong and someone notable enough that the New York Times will report on it. • source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

08 Apr 2009 09:55

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Tech: Facebook hits a big milestone today; Mark Zuckerberg still looks smug

  • 200 million users are on Facebook; they’ll officially pass that mark today; celebrate by poking someone (us!)
  • five years amount of time since the site was a glimmer in Mark Zuckerberg’s Harvard-weaned eye source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

11 Feb 2009 22:37

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Tech: Facebook paid lots of money to make ConnectU go away

  • $65 million was paid to the founders of ConnectU, a competing site who claims Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg ripped them off while he was still at Harvard
  • $15 billion Microsoft’s valuation of Facebook back in 2007, which seemed like a lot of money at the time, but then again, everybody seems to use it now. Just sayin’. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
 
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