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Monthly Archives: October 2009

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Princeton Dining has its own Twitter account this year–and is hilariously adorable about it, too.

I always appreciate the cute gestures the dining halls make, from hand-written signs to the random bread-y treats the pizza section of Rocky/Mathey makes (Pesto and focaccia? Yes). And also, that one time last November, when the staff dressed up as Obama and McCain and danced down the aisles? I appreciated that, too.

But now they have a Twitter. I’m not a big fan of Twitter, but I enjoy this one. Princeton Dining’s Twitter, which was launched over the summer, doesn’t just tell you when the CJL is closed or when there’s hot pizza at Studio ‘34--it’s also really cute. It’s so earnest! It gets excited! It occasionally makes spelling errors and uses a lot of exclamation points!

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Oct 5, 2009

Your dining hall is Twittering!

By Angela Wu
Posted in Goings On Tagged , , , Leave a comment
Damn you puwireless!

Damn you puwireless!

Tonight’s top story: the Princeton network was down for a few hours late Sunday night!

The headline reads like a bad Onion article, but this actually seems to have generated some buzz.

We walk-talked (the phenomenon of having a mini-conversation with someone while walking without actually slowing down or stopping to talk) to a girl storming down University Place who was genuinely angry about the outage, lamenting all the work she could have been doing.

She had a point. Sunday nights are a valuable work night, getting ahead for the week or (in all documented cases to date) catching up.

But there isn’t much you can’t do when the internet goes down. For whatever reason Blackboard is accessible even when the network is down.

Why that matters after the jump!

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Oct 5, 2009

Internet Down for An Entire Hour!

By Spencer Gaffney
Posted in Goings On Tagged , Leave a comment
P1030331

The future is now!

Are you one of the 50 or so Princeton students who received a $489 Kindle DX free-of-charge this semester?

I am.

You might have seen me around campus, catching up on my Tocqueville reading for class. I tend to hold it gingerly—it’s pretty, and I’m afraid of dropping it. I’m also kind of nervous around writing utensils and highlighters when reading my Kindle, lest I temporarily forget I’m not reading an actual book and accidentally start underlining the screen.

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Oct 4, 2009

My Kindle DX and I: An Arranged Marriage

By Brian No
Posted in Goings On, In the news Tagged , , , , , Leave a comment

jimthompson_1The CIA’s on campus this week searching for new recruits.  While I won’t be signing up for an interview (OR WILL I?  ESPIONAGE!), their arrival did make me think of my favorite Princeton spook, Jim Thompson, whose life – and death – reads like something straight out of a spy novel.

Born to a wealthy family in Delaware, then educated at St. Paul’s School and Princeton (Class of ‘28), Thompson left a career as a high-society architect in New York to join the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the precursor to today’s CIA.

His first job after World War II was to set up the OSS’s bureau in Bangkok, Thailand.  By day Thompson made contacts with Southeast Asia’s radical leftists, hoping to sway them to the American side; by night, he established himself as a fixture of Bangkok’s reemerging expat scene.  After retiring from the OSS in the late ‘40s, Thompson set his sights on a new venture: silkmaking.

Working closely with artisans from the country’s impoverished northeast, Thompson set about reviving the dying art of traditional Thai silk weaving. The venture made him millions and earned him worldwide fame as the “Silk King”.  Thompson used his earnings to build a huge, antiquities-filled mansion in the heart of Bangkok (which you can still visit today; it’s a must-see for any Princetonian in Thailand).

Then, on Easter Sunday 1967, Thompson vanished while walking alone in Malaysia’s Cameron Highlands.  He was never heard from again.

What happened to Jim Thompson, one of Southeast Asia’s richest men?  No one can say for sure. But as related in two separate Princeton Alumni Weekly articles, sinister theories abound:

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Oct 4, 2009

Jim Thompson ‘28: Princeton’s Man Who Knew Too Much

By David Walter
Posted in Alumni Tagged , , , , , , 2 Comments

cheatingimageThe challenges of the honor committee are more varied these days than they were during its 1893 founding. In an era when winning college application essays can be cranked out at $20 a pop, the web zones of cheating are becoming more nuanced. After the development of online book summaries and analyses, most literature professors trained themselves in the art of discerning forged reading. They can, while discussing The Tempest, glean from the kid who says (with an affected Maine accent), “Chess is an important symbol and Prospero still seems to see his daughter as a mere pawn in his game,” that the student is a connoisseur of Sparknotes.com and enjoys regurgitating the “Themes, Motifs & Symbols” page. The latest site on the scene, Course Hero, is expanding in popularity and is sure to be another hurdle for professors and the cheating police.

An academic network that allows students to upload materials from classes, Course Hero’s mission states that it,

“…believes that students are an underutilized asset today in driving deeper course-related understanding of all other students. As a complement to an educator’s current teachings, students are well positioned to help explain concepts and share knowledge with each other in an unparalleled and highly personalized manner. Course Hero is committed to fostering an open platform that facilitates highly effective and clear education dialog among students, professors and self-learners.”

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Oct 3, 2009

The Honor Committee in the Age of Google

By Samantha Pergadia
Posted in Goings On Leave a comment

image source: http://www.colmhenry.ie/gallery/show/64

image source: http://www.colmhenry.ie/gallery/show/64

John Bruton, the European Commission’s ambassador to the United States, spoke in Dodds Auditorium at the Woodrow Wilson School on Oct. 1 about the challenges facing U.S. and European relations.

To learn why Bruton believes the U.S. should keep their noses out of the E.U.’s membership business and why Americans need to get our “act together before December,” read the article at Woodrow Wilson School News here.

Oct 3, 2009

IN PRINT: Ambassador John Bruton talks about unity among E.U. members

By Samantha Pergadia
Posted in In Print, Politics Tagged , , Leave a comment

Robert GeorgeThere’s currently some controversy (of the media-cycle-manufactured, “Why is this dominating the airwaves now?” sort) swirling around Kevin Jennings, an openly gay Deputy Assistant Secretary in Obama’s Department of Education.  Jennings, who is also the founder of the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network, has come under fire from right-wing news outlets like Fox News and the Washington Times, which have accused him of covering up what they allege was the statutory rape of a gay teenage student who came to Jennings for advice in 1988 after having a sexual encounter with an older man.

Media Matters and other outlets say that they’ve debunked the accusations of rape and a cover up.  Jennings, for his part, released a statement Wednesday saying that he now realized he “should have handled this situation differently,” and still has the backing of his bosses at the Department of Education.

But this isn’t the first time that Jennings has been criticized by conservatives — Princeton Professor Robert (NOM) George, for example, denounced Jennings for promoting “pro-homosexualist propaganda” all the way back in June!  See the video from nonprofit American Principles in Action after the jump.

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Oct 1, 2009

Prof. George: Sack Kevin Jennings, Keep Education Unqueered

By David Walter
Posted in In the news Tagged , , 2 Comments

copsAccording to an article in the Princeton Packet earlier this week, Borough Police Lieutenant David Dudeck has said that, from here on out, the police will be taking  “a pro-active approach” regarding alcohol issues at the eating clubs.  Apparently, seven arrests and one hospitalization (that we know of!) in two weeks is cause for concern in the adult world.

Whatever, doodski. According to the Packet, the police, along with the borough prosecutor, have been meeting with clubs to discuss ways of preventing further alcohol-related incidents. To what these discussions might lead, however, we do not know, and the details of this new-found pro-activity remain nebulous indeed. Given Princeton’s long history of kids going a tad too hard, the fact that the article goes on to quote Dudeck as stating “we are down in enforcement just about across the board,” and describes Boro PD as “understaffed,” I’d wager that there’s not an English major out there that can read those quotation marks book-ending “pro-active” without detecting a hint of sarcasm.

Whether or not Princeton students will see the error of their ways, and what any of this will actually mean for Princeton’s night life remains to be seen. Not to be fatuous and/or obnoxiously privileged, but I think I speak for many when I say that I have an excellent lawyer (thanks Dad!) and a pre-game in t-minus two hours. Arrest that, Dudeck!

Image source: http://www.nvetv.tv/cops

Oct 1, 2009

Borough PD Gets Serious

By Ted Meyer
Posted in In the news Tagged , , , One comment