Harvard Clipping Coupons

Harvard University is cutting its budget due to hard times in its endowment investment returns. This could cripple the potential of the school being the richest in the world academic higher education facility. Students will have to bring their own Cross pens, or dare I say supply their own Neiman Marcus stationary for class notes.

Maybe we should all petition the new President Elect Barack Obama for a bailout plan for the gold mine mother load alma mata of the future President. Why not, Bush gave tax breaks to oil companies making billions per quarter? Over at Reuters they have this to say on Harvard and their budget cuts…

Harvard freezes salaries as recession bites
Tue Dec 9, 2008 2:02pm EST

By Jason Szep

BOSTON (Reuters) - Harvard University's largest faculty plans to freeze salaries for professors and non-union staff next year as the world's richest university grapples with a funding shortfall brought on by the financial crisis.

A letter from deans of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences to department heads said at least $105 million must be cut from the budget, which is strained by a projected 30 percent drop in the Ivy League school's endowment in the year to June 30.

Snippet… Don’t cry yet, it gets better

Harvard's Faculty of Arts and Sciences will also postpone almost all current tenure-track and tenured searches, the letter said, a setback for one of the world's most coveted academic prizes that confer a job for life.

Searches would resume when the financial situation turns around, the letter said.

Harvard reported on December 2 that its endowment had lost 22 percent, or $8 billion, in the last four months and was on track for its worst returns in 40 years.

The university relies on its endowment to cover about 35 percent of its operating budget. - Reuters

I’m not feeling we need a bailout for Harvard just yet. If they could lose $8 Billion in investments then I would not suggest sending your children there for an economics education. When it cost on average $35,000 tuition alone per year for that degree from Harvard I’m not to sympathetic. Then you have to consider that the school has an endowment that is in the tens of billions of dollars. The entire university could run on the endowment alone for decades. Tuition free as well! The Boston Globe listed the balance of the endowment at $34 Billion in January of 2008.

Harvard is an elite educational institution and they earned the right to that title. They give a great education and having Harvard on your diploma is the gold standard in education and when searching for future employers. However, ten or more years ago I watched a piece on the television where they were building a very small guard post on the campus. They spent $250,000 for the damn thing. You could buy the same structure at Home Depot for $1000 or less. Book smart, money stupid.

Hold the tissues, don’t grab the check book for a charitable donation to Harvard just yet. Do however feel free to donate to a much more worthy charity like the Salvation Army or your local homeless shelter.

Papamoka

Jury Duty Part II

Well I did my jury duty. I happened to have the chance to read my latest paperback but then again they have a television in the jury room so that was a bonus. Nobody was talking to anyone other than pleasantries and it felt more like a wake then a public service adventure.

All of the folks that were called for jury duty were placed in a room that was somewhat devoid of any artwork other than a Walmart special clock that just failed to tick off the minutes. Then the court officer came in and declared war on smokers and anyone with an inkling of needing to leave the room we were somewhat incarcerated in. If any one person left the room, we would be there till after four in the afternoon due to procedures in place to keep the jury pool out of ear shot of any lawyers discussing cases in the halls. Sort of a time out for all of us kids on the jury pool because one of us just might sneak out for a butt. When he asked for a show of hands amongst us only one person raised their hand and he was put to task. "I will be watching you!" The court officer stated as fact.

Just as the morning television talk shows were in full game they killed the television on us to watch one of those Charlie Brown videos of judges discussing the process, what the duty of the jury is and how it all works. I'm sure the woman sleeping at the table heard the teacher from Charlie Brown, Wha, wha wha wha, wha wha wha wha wha....

I forgot to mention the screening process, no cell phones, no electronic devices, and all the rest of logical things like weapons of mass destruction are not aloud in the court house. I emptied my pockets and feared that my bic lighter would be seen as a terrorist weopon but is was not once we were locked down. My wallet and pictures of my kids were rifled through as well as my car keys. Key to key were looked over. I was pissed off when one of the jury members whipped out her lap top and started typing away once we were in the sealed room. Had I known those were okay I would have brought mine.

One of the judges from the court came into the jury room in full robes and thanked us all for attending and serving not just our state but our nations legal system and that impressed me. It was probably the same speech he gives five days a week but it was the first time I have heard it and it made sense. Thank you Judge whatever the hell you said your name was. I so much wanted to ask him while he was thanking me so much for being there where the vending machines were for a soda, a snack, something? I didn't.

End result of my jury service was that I did not get to be on a jury. Damn lawyers scewed me over and settled all of the cases today or had continuences without the need for a jury. From what I now understand this is the case many times in our courts. All of my anxiety for serving on a jury were dealt with by a couple of lawyers making a deal in the halls of justice. Am I wrong to think that our justice system is screwed up? Yes, lawyers are there for their clients but if they are spitting out odds like a Las Vegas gambling house then why am I being called for jury duty?

Have people taken lawyers opinions as judges as a fact they have to face without a trial? Even a trial by a jury is feared by the lawyer? I see a real problem with this and frankly you should too! This is a serious dilemma. Judges in a court of law are lawyers but any lawyer in a court is not a judge. Something isn't right here. How do these lawyers know what any jury would think given any case? What if I had one problem with any given statement in any trial as a jury member? What if I had a problem with the police procedures used in any given trial?

Trusting a lawyer when your interests are at stake is up to you as an individual to say yes or no. Lawyers should be advisors to their clients and not deal makers in the courts of our justice system.

Papamoka

HooRAHHH! Here is your Diploma...NOT!

Picture Courtesy of Galesburg High School web site

No matter how proud you are of your son or daughter for making it all the way to finally getting that diploma there is always just one more road block. Remember those two finger claps of years gone by while you attended school? Anything louder than that during your high school graduation ceremony and they pull your diploma in Galesburg, IL!

I could not make this up if I wanted too but the New York Times has this to say about it...

Diplomas Denied Over Graduation Cheers
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: June 3, 2007

GALESBURG, Ill., June 2 — A high school that had warned against undignified behavior at its graduation ceremony denied diplomas to five students after enthusiastic friends or family members cheered for them during the commencement program.

On May 27, Galesburg High School students and their parents were asked to sign a contract promising to act in dignified way. Violators were warned they could be denied their diplomas and barred from an after-graduation party.

Many schools ask spectators to hold applause and cheers until the ceremonies end but few rigidly enforce the policy.

“It was like one of the worst days of my life,” said Caisha Gayles, one of the five students, who officially graduated, but does not have her diploma to frame and hang on her wall. “You walk across the stage and then you can’t get your diploma because of other people cheering for you. It was devastating.”

The school said the five students can still get their diplomas by completing eight hours of public service, answering phones, sorting books or doing other work for the district.

School officials in Galesburg, a city of 34,000 in northwestern Illinois, said the policy was adopted after hoots, hollers and even air horns drowned out much of the ceremony in 2005 and nearly touched off fights in the audience when the unruly were asked to quiet down. - New York Times

Contrary to popular belief, not all kids have a “Disney Channel Sitcom” educational experience. Yes, some children have a very hard time and for the ones that stick it through with those D grades it makes their friends and family damn proud.

If “Buffy and Biff” who sailed through with straight A’s parents want to do the two finger clap then you go right the hell ahead. If my kid struggled all along but stuck with it then I will cheer loud and proud! My kid just completed the toughest event of their young life and getting that High School Diploma is something to be very thankful for. If this were a sporting event then my child just made the first cut and made the team.

Who the hell is that anal among parents that doesn’t see the trees for the forest? Who amongst educators does not get the happiness of this lifetime achievement? Getting that diploma is the true beginning from childhood to being a functioning adult.

Would it hurt the ceremony to pause a damn minute or two to give each of the kids the encouragement they deserve from their families and friends while accepting the award of twelve years or more of continued determination to learn and make the grade. In a society that constantly bitches about kids dropping out, these folks are screwing them over just one last time simply because they hold the piece of paper that states to our society that you made the cut.

How is the kid getting the diploma responsible for this? Well, if you think about it they are. Yup, if gramps or grams with all the arthritis and bad hips gets to excited then pull that kids diploma. Mom or Dad that worked several jobs to pay for tutors and saved for college and a better future should be silent. Parents are to be seen and not heard from.

NOT!

We are just going to put this one in the idiot box and forward it to every blog we can think of. Life is hard enough for our young adults and then you get this educational Nazi idiocy movement. I refuse to “Achtung Mine Furor” on this one.

Some people are just idiots (Terminology changed due to younger readers) because they have a position that lets them be that way. Give you a clue, there are bigger idiots (Terminology changed due to younger readers) like me that care and City Councilors that care even more. Especially, when nice folks that are not idiots (Terminolgy...you know the drill) reading and idiot blog like mine simply email the real folks in charge to complain and demand justice… Hint, hint, hint…

If this post inspired you or ticked you off, please forward this post to someone else that is an idiot...

Papamoka

GALESBURG, Illinois official municipal site... hint, hint, hint...

UPDATE: The school has given the kids their diplomas.

Cross posted at Bring It ON!

Bush Morals on Stem Cell Research…

Cross posted at Bring IT ON!

Where President Bush failed to act then the States and the Governors have taken up the charge where it concerns Stem Cell Research. Once more on yet another critical issue to our nation the President and his lack of vision are being trampled on by yet one more Governor that knows where the future of science is. President Bush claims to be against embryonic stem cell research for moral reasons and yet he would have no problem incinerating those same embryos as medical waste that is at the very heart of this heated discussion. Donated embryos without a womb or hope of a womb will degrade over time and when that time comes they simply light a match and thus end the discussion and his argument of higher principles and personal morals on life being sacred.

What simply amazes me to no end is that the states and the Governors of our nation are showing what true leadership is when it comes to medical science. The few Governors that have chosen to take on stem cell research are truly the people that deserve our nations and the world’s gratitude. George Bush is the oxymoron President that will protect and embryo in a cellular state with no chance of survival outside of a womb and yet he will send our young men and woman to fight a war that his administration made up? If that doesn’t make you go Hmmm then I don’t know what will?

Over at the New York Times they have this great piece on Governor Deval Patrick and his commitment to medical science …

Massachusetts Proposes Stem Cell Research Grants
By PAM BELLUCK
Published: May 9, 2007

BOSTON, May 8 — Gov. Deval Patrick on Tuesday unveiled a $1.25 billion proposal intended to help the state maintain its status as a pre-eminent place for stem cell research and other life sciences.

The money would provide grants for university and hospital scientists, establish special research centers to make their work faster and more efficient, and train workers for biotechnology businesses.

It would also establish the first stem cell bank, a repository of all the stem cell lines created in Massachusetts laboratories, which would serve as a kind of stem cell lending library to scientists around the world.

“In many ways the health of this industry and the health of our society are very closely linked,” Mr. Patrick said at an international biotechnology convention here, where he announced the plan. “That’s why we will not rest on our laurels.”

Mr. Patrick’s plan involves $1 billion in state money over 10 years, some borrowed through bond issues, plus $250 million in matching money from private business.

Massachusetts is home to some of the most advanced research in stem cells and other life sciences, including the work of Craig C. Mello, a University of Massachusetts scientist who shared the 2006 Nobel Prize in Medicine for his work on silencing the effect of certain genes, which could lead to treatment of diabetes, AIDS and Alzheimer’s disease. Scientists at Harvard and other Massachusetts research centers have created more than 30 new lines of embryonic stem cells, more than researchers in other states.

Other states have proposed committing money to the field. Among them are California, which approved a $3 billion program; New Jersey, which has proposed $270 million; and New York, where Gov. Eliot Spitzer has proposed $1 billion for stem cell research.

These states are all seeking ways to get around the Bush administration’s restrictions on federal financing for embryonic stem cell research, which were imposed because President Bush objects to the necessity of destroying human embryos in order to create the stem cells. – New York Times

America has to continue reaching for the outer limits of science and beyond not simply because we can but that we have to if we are going to continue as the leaders of the free world. We can not sit idly by while our families are suffering and dying from diseases that could possibly be cured if the research is simply started today. This research that could take decades may not save you from your terminal illness today but it just might save your grand child or great grand child.

There is another thought that was running through my head while reading this article and that was the sense of vision and long term job growth that this technology will bring to the states that dare to dream and fund it now. Back in the early seventies and eighties Massachusetts was the hub of computer technology companies and an industry leader in computer sciences. Companies like Wang, Digital, Data General, Prime One were just a few of the big players in that market and yet today they are all gone. Computer systems and parts and everything to do with building computers for the most part are now feeding families overseas now. Then you have to think about Detroit and what the people there are going to do now that their future is in question? Just knowing that the world’s largest auto maker is now in Japan has to send a shiver up your spine.

Embracing stem cell research will ensure America and Massachusetts is a player in the higher paid job markets ten, twenty and thirty years down the road. Some folks call it Progressive Government. I just call it smart government.

Governors like Deval Patrick know that you have to keep moving forward and embracing new ideas and new sciences to keep the good paying jobs in his state and help emerging opportunities to reach a bountiful potential. It is the job of the Governor of every state to make sure that the jobs that pay well will be there if not in his or her term then ten or twenty years down the road.

I’m trying to think of any science or technology that would promote a future of great jobs at descent salaries other than big oil that this President has embraced. Nope, I got nothing. Can you think of one?

Papamoka

Cross Posted at Bring It ON!

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