I first met Matt Hiles while he was director of business development with Looking Glass Networks in Los Angeles. As a customer looking for telecom services, navigating the providers, technologies, and deal structures can be confusing. Matt took the time to explain all aspects of the business, cost structures, and how he would get us a great deal – while still making money for his company. Matt stood out alone from a world of “wheeling and dealing” telecom sales people, unique in providing the customer a level of confidence they were getting the best product, for the best price, with the best service.

Pacific-Tier: Today we have Matt Hiles, managing partner with Mosaic Networx. Hello Matt! So tell us a little about yourself, how did you get into this business?

Matt Hiles: I started in telecommunications right out of college, and I’ve been in the business, in one form or another, since – which is about 20 years. I’ve been in a variety of telecommunications, voice, and service providers. I’ve also spent a period of time in the data center side of the industry as well.

Pacific-Tier: now you are with Mosaic Networx. Can you give a little background on Mosaic. What are you, what do you do, and what type of business problems do you solve?

Matt Hiles: Mosaic Networx is a carrier neutral, data services provider. We provide a supply chain management service primarily for enterprise companies, but secondarily to wholesale providers and telecommunications providers. From a supply chain management perspective we provide a value add in three functional areas which are pricing, procurement, and provisioning.

What we’ve found is that, in the enterprise space, there is a lack, or need in one of those areas. Typically all of those areas. Where enterprise decision-makers and IT managers don’t have the depth and breadth of knowledge of the telecommunications providers and options that are available.

So we price them, then procure them, provision them, and then manage them ongoing on the back end.

Pacific-Tier: Well, that’s pretty cool. So who is your market, who would be your customer?

Matt Hiles: Our customers are small, medium, and we even have several Fortune 500 companies. We have a strong vertical in the financial services market. Specifically we work with the low-latency, high frequency trading guys. We’ve also worked with public wholesale companies who may not have the buying power we have, so we add some pricing value for those types.

Pacific-Tier: I’ve noticed you are based in Long Beach, California. Other people in your company are scattered around the United States, with diverse locations for your primary management team – does that provide you any challenges?

Matt Hiles: I imagine it provides some challenge, although It would be hard to quantify them. We haven’t really seen them. I think where we’ve done an outstanding job in is finding the right people.

We have 18 personnel in the functional areas in the company, whether its finance or operations, or on the sales side as well. So the distributed environment that we have seems to work out just fine.

Would we have a little bit more camaraderie in a common office? Probably.

Pacific-Tier: So it’s rather tough economic time right now. We’ve had kind of a sketchy run over the last year. What motivated you to start up a company in the last year or so and how do you feel about being an entrepreneur in a tough economic environment?

Matt Hiles: So, I suppose that timings everything, right? We didn’t know we would start a company in a tough economic period. But, the economy notwithstanding , I think there is always business. And for innovative entrepreneurs who can go out and create value for customers, provide them an outstanding customer experience, then good or bad times I think you can be successful.

Pacific-Tier: So what advice do you have for other entrepreneurs, graduates who are looking at a tough economy, what advice do you have for other budding visionaries and entrepreneurs?

Matt Hiles: I think you have to have an expertise. It doesn’t make a lot of sense in my mind to venture into an area as an entrepreneur where you don’t have years of background and can consider yourself a subject-matter expert. I think that is (not being a subject-matter expert) a recipe for disappointment.

But somebody who has spent their time in a corporate environment, learning an area, and then able to translate that into, you know, a startup environment, then I’d encourage them to be entrepreneurs, and entrepreneur owners.

Pacific-Tier: That’s great advice. Give a little pitch for you company. Where do we find you?

Matt Hiles: You can find our company at Mosaic Networx, and the domain is mosaicnetworx.com . if you would like to reach us we’d be happy to hear from you.

Pacific-Tier: Thank you very much for the time!

For 14 days I still dont have a day-off!

It was a challenging and inspiring weekend; I went to HBS admission presention and the Bridge for peace.

I was late for 7 minutes. The HBS really started on time. I feel so guilty.

There were lots of audiences and the whole theater was almost full. I was surprised when a PHD canditate in Genetics asked about how harvard prepare students like him who have gone deeply into technical feild >_<. I can’t imagine myself on his path. Maybe he can build a company and make some breakthrough in genetics..

Most are young, who are so agressive in chasing opportunities .Anyway

Sunday and monday I was just in the Bridge for Peace giving speeches and sharing ideas. I and the Bridge for Peace, why I was there because BFP and me share a common interest: the Japanese occupation of the Philippines. It was past though. But history is very important in learning. We dont want to make the same mistakes again.

Well I realized I met new friends again. Some speakers were from Korea, China and Indonesia.

Studying environmental management makes me acutely aware of the trouble us humans cause on earth, messing up just about everything we can get our hands on. BUT there is one thing we cannot mess up; our bodies continue to be biodegradable. Worms and millions of other little critters are just waiting to dine on us when we finally expire. While the junk we bought and built will go on polluting for centuries, at least our bodies — with the exception of breast implants, knee replacements, and other medical gadgets — will go back to the soil to feed the earth and join the beautiful cycle of life.

I have grown to love worms. Rather than feeding on me though, right now they are feeding on my garbage, the food, compost that I would otherwise throw in the trash bin. Generally speaking, in the US 60% of our waste is recyclable, 30% is compostable and just 10% is true waste. We American’s throw out an average of 4.5 pounds of garbage a day, and 3 pounds of that wet heavy garbage is actually compostable, great high quality worm food.

A well maintained worm composting bin can be kept inside your home and will not smell. When you lift the lid you will smell only dark rich earthy soil. You won’t have just worms in your bin, after a short time other critters grow in there too, making up a complex food web that will rapidly decompose your food and even fiber, like shredded junk mail.

Feeding my worms junk mail and other printed fiber has raised an issue. After a year of feeding them this fifty-fifty mix of food and fiber the composting bin now has a think layer of beautiful rich black soil. I was planning to start growing some herbs in a small indoor garden and I realized today that my soil may be super rich in organic matter but it may also have some heavy metals used in the inks on the paper I fed the worms. Case and point, nature grew all the food I ate and the remaining peels and skins are compostable, then when we humans try to make something as simple as paper we just disgrace a perfect system with all our technology.

Well, from now on I feed my worms only what I would enjoy eating. Because one day I will eat the herbs and plants I grow in their pure soil. And when I finally “buy the farm”, the worm farm in the ground that is, and the worms come to dine on me, instead of tasting like junk mail I will taste like fresh herbs.

If you are thinking to start a composting bin at home, simply search the web for the key words “worm bin” or “vermicomposting” and if you need further advice just send me your questions in the comments field below.

When it comes to strategy, the world of sports provides plenty of examples of what not to do. Case in point: the Harvard-Yale football game last weekend. Harvard prevailed 14-10 due to one of the biggest strategic blunders in the history of sports. Leading the game 10-7 with only 2:25 left, Yale’s first-year coach Tom Williams decided not to punt the ball on fourth down with 22 yards to go from his own 26-yard line. Yale’s fake punt was unsuccessful and Harvard marched in to score the winning touchdown.

Afterward, many including the Chicago Tribune editorial board, came to his defense, saying it was the right move. Their arguments centered on statistical analyses showing higher probability for success not punting (79%) than punting (70%). What all the supporters failed to take into account is context. Context is the current situation, which in this case showed only 2:25 left on the clock and a fourth down with a long way to go.

Good strategists know that two of the most important tools at their disposal are distance and time. Review many military battles and you’ll see how great generals used distance and time to defeat their enemies. In the case of Yale, they should have used both by having their punter (the top-rated one in the Ivy League) create greater distance for Harvard to travel in a decreasing period of time. They failed to use either and it cost them the game. 

We evaluate strategy on how well it achieves our goals. Let’s assume Yale’s goal was to win the game. Coach William’s strategy of running the ball on fourth down and 22 yards to go failed in helping them reach their goal. The Chicago Tribune editor wrote: “Even if the gamble doesn’t always work, it will almost always be more fun than dutifully kicking the ball away.” This is akin to saying air travel will almost always be more exciting if you skydive from the plane without a parachute. Exciting, yes. Effective, no. This lack of critical thinking is shocking until we recall that this is the same editorial board that endorsed Rod Blagojevich for Illinois Governor…twice!

How are you using time and distance in your strategy to outperform the competition?  

The podcast is up and this is some of what you’ll hear:

Starting Five: Beth throws Five Questions at Debbie:

1)      What will be your favorite dish on the Thanksgiving table?

2)      What’s your Tennessee All-time Starting five by position?

Point guard: Candace Parker? (Or Kellie Jolly. Or Holly Warlick. Or Kara Lawson. Or Lea Henry.)

Chamique Holdsclaw, Tamika Catchings, Daedra Charles, Bridgette Gordon.(Or Jill Rankin. Or Sheila Frost.)

3) “You told me so:” Mississippi State thrashes Maryland. (And a possible Shootaround Shooter of the year list no longer a darkhorse.)

4) With losses to Harvard and Vermont, what is up at Boston College? Or better: What is up at Vermont? (Yowza Courtnay Pilypaitis!)

5) Speaking of Vermont — name you non-BCS top-10

Xavier
San Diego State
Dayton
Middle Tennessee State
Vermont
TCU
Hartford
Illinois State
Gonzaga
South Dakota State (Beth throws in Marist)

Discussion: Where you find parity, diamonds-in-the-rough and poll voters who do their homework.

Poll question (trivia) : Name the only two-time Wade Trophy winners.

Matt the Stat-guy: Congrats to Gabriela Marginean, who broke Drexel’s career scoring record. Is Villanova’s Shelly Pennefather Philadelphia college scoring record next?

The Men of the A-10 (Calendar?) – Jim Jabir, Dayton Flyers and Kevin McGuff, Xavier

1)  Talk about the Art vs. Science of Scheduling

JJ – We’ve scheduled “up” because of the growth of our young players last year.

KM – We want early challenges to build the program, draw recruits and bring attention to the quality of our Conference.

2)      Xavier’s got one of the best front lines in company (Amber Harris, Ta’Shia Phillips,  April Phillips). Talk about Amber Harris’s health.

3) Ta’Shia Phillips. Perhaps overshadowed last year. Now?

KM: Impact of USA Basketball experience

4) Dayton has all five starters back. Give us a snapshot of your team.

JJ – Defense and balance. Brittany Wilson and Kari Daugherty – impact freshmen.

5) Tracking the Growth of A-10: First season that 7 teams had 20 wins. 5 in WNIT. 3 in NCAA. RPI of 7.  Jim – what are you going to tell the NCAA Selection Committee when you participate in the Mock Selection process?

KM – To get to the NCAA we have to be good on Day 1.

6) What’s it like to play with a target on your back?

Full Court Pressure aka Women’s Basketball Trivia: Who was the last non-BCS #1 NCAA seed?

#1 Seed vs. Conference Ranking Discussion: If PAC 10 is the #6 rated conference and A-10 is #7, should Xavier be in the #1 seed discussions the way Stanford is?

Previewing the Paradise Jam: San Diego State, South Carolina, Notre Dame and Oklahoma on one side, Texas, Mississippi State, Rutgers and Southern Cal on the other.

How good are these teams?
Are pollsters right?
A team might come out 0-3, but with “good” losses.
Beth and Debbie argue who’s the biggest gym rat

Notes from the Cocktail Napkin

• Kudos to Andrea Riley 2000pts Alison Hightower 1000pts
• Virgina vs Tennessee – 11,000 attendees and hotdogs
• Doug Bruno and Doug Bruno Court
• WBCA’s So You Want to be a Coach successes. In the 8^th season: 71% of former student – athletes still in coaching
• Close to $2 million raised for Kay Yow Cancer Fund
• Condolences to Chris Spielman on the loss of his wife, Stefanie

Full Court Pressure Trivia Question Hint: The year was 2000.

Comments? Questions: Shootaround@wbca.org

Don’t forget: The podcast is up.

From the transcript of my recent visit to the Temporary Employment Agency:

Temporary Employment Agency Guy (TEAGUE): Thanks for coming in Will. I have to tell you that I have less than twenty minutes to talk with you. We have to make this fast. Dia Schnellenberger is coming in for lunch at 12:00 and I can’t keep her waiting. You may have heard of her by her stage name, “Ice Water”
Will Cantrell (WC): The Rapper? Yesterday, on the phone, you said that you had a job for me…
TEAGUE: Ice-T and Ice Cube were already taken. Do you know that Fia’s a classically trained concert pianist? Surprised? So is everybody. The girl plays the piano beautifully, but she can make a lot more money as a rapper. She is about to blow up.
WC: About the job. I remember you saying something about a job in the media. I was laid–off a long time ago. It’s been a very long time between paychecks for me …I need a job…
TEAGUE: Don’t we all? Things are slow all over. Even for my hip-hop clients. For writers, like you…well you already how tough it is to find any kind of work…especially for somebody like you. Everybody is a writer, Will.
WC: So you like my resume? You like my work on the Internet? My writings?
TEAGUE: Will, we haven’t seen any of that. We like your screen name , JustPlainWill, and all of the potential that it carries for the agency…and for you too, of course. Oh, by the way, I need you to sign this Confidentiality Agreement. You’re going to hear some things today that you’ve probably already suspected. I just need for whatever your hear to remain here.
WC: Sort of like Vegas? Let me read the agreement. My screen name?
TEAGUE: There’s no time for you to read it. Gia is going to be here in just a bit and I ‘d like to get you all squared away before I have to meet with her. Here …sign right here. Just your initials will be fine. OK, Great. Now that you’ve signed the CA, we wanted to see if you might have any interest in being on a new television show. It’s a new Sunday morning news show very similar to the ones that are already on like Face the Music on CBS and Greet the Press on NBC and the show For the Weak on ABC. This one will be on Fox and it’s going to be called “Jumping to Conclusions”. Clever huh?
WC: What would I be doing on the show?
TEAGUE: Will you’ll be a pundit. You know one of those guys that sits around a table and talks about politics and economics and stuff along with three other people. Sometimes they even talk about baseball. The pay is good…$17.00 per hour plus you get to promote your own website and any books that you may have written in the past week. Your deal will be just like the guys already on. A couple of the TV pundits make more money selling T shirts and baseball caps over the web than they make from their networks. We envisioned you being “J.P. Will”, George Will’s long-lost brother. That came from your screen name of JustPlainWill. Do you own a bow tie?
WC: I don’t have any experience being a pundit. I mean, I need a job and all, but I don’t want to look foolish. And besides, its only one hour a week.
TEAGUE: Will, that’s one of the things that the job is all about. But, no worry, if you are concerned about looking foolish, we’ll send you to school. Pundit University…for a week. The school is over in Chevy Chase, right next to the Ajax School of Professional Wrestling. PU is in the same building, run by the same guys. I’ll cost you $300 to go but in a week’s time you’ll be saying things like “….the rate of the rate of the rate of the rate of unemployment fell three percentage points in the numbers that were released this past week. The end of the recession is in sight.” The folks at PU will also rehearse you in saying things like “…the administration is spending way too much money on these pork barrel projects” or “the Obama administration is spending too little money on pork barrel projects.” Just like the other pundits you will have absolutely no clue as to which one of these statements is correct. After a week at PU, you’ll just know that in all likelihood, one of the statements is. Mostly likely, anyway.
WC: But still its only seventeen dollars a week!
TEAGUE: Will this is how all of the pundits started out. If “Jumping to Conclusions” does well, they will be running it every night and then again in the middle of the night. That’s how these cable channels cope with having to fill all of the time with no real news. Now do you want to be considered for this gig or not? Trust me, if you don’t want it, there are plenty of other people who jump at the chance to do this.
WC: I just don’t have a lot of experience at punditry.
TEAGUE: Listen, no pundit had any experience. It’s better that way. George Will, Charles Krauthammer, Juan Williams, that chick from England, the bitter one from the Philippines…none of them had any experience before they were pundits. You ever sold used cars, Will? There’s one pundit whose on right TV right now…I can’t tell you which one because of confidentiality, but he was a used car salesman just a week before he was a pundit…and he’s been a successful pundit for years. Doesn’t know squat. But you don’t have to know squat to be a pundit. There’s another one who shall go unnamed, who had just gotten out of jail a month before he started Pundit University. There’s one woman who’s been retired for a while, but she was a hooker before becoming a pundit.
WC: You’re kidding me?!
TEAGUE: A “straight up ‘ho!’“ I kid you not, Cantrell. I think that she had just gotten her GED at the time. So you can see that you don’t have to exactly be Harvard educated or have hardly any education at all to be a pundit. Believe me, nobody ever checks the credentials of these folks. By the way, do you have a coat and tie?
WC: Yes I do, but…
TEAGUE: This is a good opportunity Will. Come to think of it, that’s all you need is a coat and a tie and a shirt of course. You won’t even have to wear pants if you don’t want to. There are
several of those the other talking heads on Greet the Press who I know for a fact are not
wearing pants since they are only shown from the waist up.
WC: Well can I be a liberal pundit…you know, one who defends the Obama Administration?
TEAGUE: Sure you can, Will. Sure you can. But I think that you’re making a big mistake. The pundits who make the most money are the conservatives, the neo-cons. It’s just easier. And you get to be belligerent and disrespectful to the administration and all. You get to get really upset on the air…roll around on the floor and have conniptions, even. It’s a lot more fun. Trust me, you should think about becoming a conservative pundit. You’re a black man and nobody really expects you people to be anything but liberals. You’ll be remembered Will. By everybody. I may even be able to bet you $21.00 per hour as a black conservative pundit. A black neo-con. The big thing among the conservatives is “socialism”. Saying that the President is a socialist. You know that most of those folks don’t really know a socialist is. I’ve had a couple of people tell me that being a socialist was hanging out with Paris Hilton.
WC: She’s a social-lite!
TEAGUE: That’s what I mean. That’s what most folks think that a socialist is…a socialite.
WC: If I become a liberal pundit that would mean that I’d get to hang out at the White House and phone conversations with people in the Administration.
TEAGUE: No. You most definitely would not. That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you. Most of the pundits don’t know ANYBODY in any administration. These liberal pundits have never even met the President. Most of them. The conservative pundits are even worse. Do you really think that even George Bush would have ANY of those folks over to dinner? He and Laura would have really had to count the silverware after any of those conservative pundits had shown up at a White House dinner.
WC: Then how do they know what to…

TEAGUE: They make it up mostly. Both sides.
WC: But my integrity is important to me.
TEAGUE: Will, I need to disabuse you of that notion. Dammit man, you’re old enough to know better… OK. OK. OK….let me calm down. Let me ask you a question, Cantrell. You know that in order to stay on the air, “Jumping to Conclusions” has to have good ratings? Let me ask you if you would willing to jump across the table and slap Charles Krauthammer? It would be good for ratings and I’m surprised that nobody has done it by now. God knows he needs slapping. Or he needs to get laid, but I wouldn’t ask you to do that.
WC: I need to think about all of this.
TEAGUE: Listen Cantrell, this is the opportunity of a lifetime. I can’t believe that you’re not begging me for this job. Do you know that you don’t have to have any qualifications to be a pundit. None. Not even a fishing license. Nobody checks your resume, your educational credentials. Nuttin’. You know what? You know what, Mister Cantrell? You’ve made me mad. You should be jumping’ at the chance to do this. You just don’t want it bad enough. All worried about your integrity and all. Integrity, my ass! Integrity. I tell you what…you just blew it, Cantrell. Get the hell out of my office. GET OUT. RIGHT NOW. Slia is on her way. Ice Water. Maybe I’ll just offer the job to her. It’s not much money, but it will be great exposure. Get out.  Just get the hell out of here. Now, before I call security!

“The University brings out all abilities, including stupidity.” — Anton Chekhov

“I am always ready to learn although I do not always like being taught.” — Winston Churchill

I am an assistant dean in the college of liberal arts at a public urban university.  Part of my job is to help students solve the myriad of problems that can interfere with their studies.  Believe me, in my three months on the job, I have seen enough to fill several blogs and perhaps a couple of novels. 

Since I am in the College of Liberal Arts, I feel the urge to address the subject of liberal education and its decline on the modern college campus.  Liberal education is one of the few things that I find sacred; and as a professor I was a zealous disciple.  I could not understand (or accept) the fact that my students were not true believers as well.  Reactions to my teaching varied considerably.  On course evaluations my students usually wrote that “my expectations of them were unreasonable.”   On more than one occasion I even heard some of my African-American students call me a racist because I dipped freely into the Western canon for material for my history classes.  I had a few African students who had been educated in the European system.   Interestingly, they found my classes “engaging.”   Some faculty colleagues fretted that my methods would upset the classroom status quo and bring unwanted scrutiny to the department.  Others applauded my efforts, but told me privately that they were doomed to failure.  The rising generation, they warned, did not value learning—or at least, not the type of learning that was familiar to me.

I believe that we have become afraid to expect more of ourselves and our students.  Our consumer-oriented society and the escalating cost of college tuition have convinced us that education is just another product to be purchased; and thus, it must therefore be as attractive and non-threatening as possible to the largest number of potential customers.  True liberal education demands that assumptions be challenged, and ideas be twisted and pulled, and exposed to extremes of opinion.  In my view, to be educated is to be conscientiously uncomfortable.

Ignorance, to update Derek Bok’s familiar adage, is not only expensive, but also user-friendly.  Satisfaction guaranteed or your money back.

The Ohio State v. Michigan game was this past weekend.  Although I am from Ohio, I had no idea that the name of this rivalry was called “The Game.”   This caught me off guard because my undergraduate’s rivalry game is also coined as “The Game.”   After learning this, I did my research on Wikipedia and discovered that the OSU v. Michigan and Yale v. Harvard are the only two football games that use the moniker “The Game.”

Since I have been able to take part in the weekend celebrations for both games, I decided it’d be interesting to examine the similarities and differences between the two different rivalries. 

Harvard v Yale “The Game”

• Early morning wake-up for tailgating.  Themed tailgates.
• Not important to wear school colors.  Classic tailgate look: polo shirts, faded jeans, Ray-Ban Wayfarers and a blazer.
• Everyone attends the game whether it is home or away.
• Student ID is free admission.  Game rarely sells out.  Yale Bowl seats 70,870.
• Recently lopsided series.  Yale has won only once since the year 2000… but they hold the all time series record 65-53-8.
• Little animosity between schools.  Joint Harvard- Yale tailgates.   Students offer to “host” the away team’s fans if people are looking for weekend housing. 
• Both sides follow the scores to the other rivalry games while tailgating. 
• Alumni from all over the country return for The Game since it is the main Fall reunion. 
• Win or lose it is always a good time.

OSU v Michigan “The Game” (note: I have never experienced a home OSU v. Michigan game)

• Early morning tailgate.  Real tailgates: burgers, beer, cornhole, football.
• Traditions: Mirror Lake jump – Absolutely insane event on Friday night.  Students jump into Mirror Lake despite freezing temperatures and ridiculously high ammonia levels.
• Wear school colors: preferably jerseys – specifically a James Laurinatis jersey.
• Not as many people travel to the away games.  No student housing provided by the home team.
• Student IDs are not free admission to the game.  Games are always sold out.  Tickets actually have a resale value.
• Recently lopsided series.  Michigan has won only once since the year 2000… but they hold the all time series record 57-43-6.
• No joint tailgates.  The two schools hate each other – don’t wear Scarlet and Gray in Ann Arbor.
• People actually watch the game.  The tailgate is simply a buildup to the game.
• You better win to have a good day… or even a good year.

 This year’s result:  Yale loses, OSU wins…  I’ll take it.

See the bubble. Be the bubble. You are the bubble.

Are you one of those people, that, no matter what happens, you just go with the flow? I mean, good or bad, you remain even, despite the calamity around you?

It’s a rather pleasant state of being, this going-with-the-flow thing. You can see things with abundant clarity, and stand firm even in the eye of the storm (knowing that it will pass bringing mayhem and madness, when it does).

I’m a go-with-the-flow-er. Lord knows your boy has been tested by trials and travails (another story for a different time). Suffice to say, if you’ve just met me or have known me for years, you’ll always encounter the same ‘ole Stephen.

My wife marvels at my unflappable nature. I think it’s a reaction to growing up in a house full of crazy Nigerians. Eventually, you become anesthetized to all forms of drama, achieving a Zen-like quality.

Growing up Nigerian is no joke. When your dad speaks with a thick Nigerian accent and points with his middle finger (all my friends found this trait to be quite hysterical), you learn to cope.

When your mom conducts herself as if she were THE original bush-diva (Omfoofoo got nuthin’ on mom dukes), you learn to be amused.

When your older sister is a domineering bully (she regularly beat all three of us up at one time), you grow a thick skin.

And when two of your younger brothers are a mal-adjusted overachieving genius (think Harvard MBA in Triathelons) and an aspiring meglomaniac (4 degrees, including a PhD, and not a lick of common sense), it’s either drugs in heavy doses or learn to cultivate some form of inner mental clarity.

It all started when I was little. Once, my dad brought home a billy goat. My brothers and sister thought we’d received the wonderful gift of a family pet. What? We were Nigerian. What did we know of pets?

For a full week, we fed Billy (yes, we named him Billy. I told you we were Nigerian, didn’t I?) and showered him with love. Until Saturday came.

You see, on Saturday a bunch of my relatives came over for a party (my parents were always throwing parties). That evening, my dad, a few uncles and I went into the back yard and untied Billy from the pole to which he had been tied.

My father produced a machete, and after saying a few unintelligible words or prayer in Igbo (presumably to the gods of savage acts performed in front of small children), proceeded to SLIT BILLY’S THROAT! Brave Billy bleated his last breath, and was promptly turned into a feast.

I was shocked. Who knew my peaceful, smiling, heavily accented-English speaking, middle-finger-pointing, five foot six, buck fifty, 50 year old daddy, was a straight killer?!

And why was I out there with he and these other brutish savages celebrating the death of poor Billy? What did Billy ever do to any of you?!!!

Growing up in America, with savages for parents (and relatives) provided me with numerous opportunities to hone the ability to remain detached while observing even the most heinous of events unfold before me (I’m not even going to go into the time he took me to the farm to get a cow – let’s just say he met the same fate as Billy).

The Stephen who blogs before you is the product of these trials and travails.

So if you ever find yourself in a tight spot, with nowhere to turn, think of Billy, and go with the flow (but don’t let anyone with a machete anywhere near you).

Hockey East, along with the ECAC and Atlantic Hockey announced the formation of College Hockey, Inc, prior to Tuesday’s Boston University vs. Harvard game at Bright Hockey Center. The news was broken by WTBU Sports.

Commisioners Joe Bertagna, Steve Hagwell, and Bob DeGregorio were in attendance at the press conference to announce the marketing endavor, which was launched:

“…to promote the sport across the United States and, primarily, to prevent valuable recruits from deferring their time on campus in favor of playing major junior hockey in Canada and elsewhere.

Former NHL Players Association executive director Paul Kelly will lead the efforts, which will operate under the Hockey Commissioners Association, which is made up of the top conferences in the country.

The New York Times’ Slapshot Blog also covered the story.

In one of last week’s classes, we discussed the 19th-century psuedo science known as physiognomy, where one attempts to divine personality traits of a subject given their physical attributes.  This “science” was extremely popular in the 1830s in Russia, and certainly did seem to have influence upon Lermontov.

Most sources that treat physiognomy refer to it as a movements in the 18th and 19th centuries that was eventually roundly discredited.  But it is not as though it died out by the 20th century.

I recently stumbled across a bizarre extension of physiognomy into the 1960s – much farther on than one would have thought possible.  It involves the so-called “Ivy League Nude Posture Photos.”

Here’s the New York Times summary of these Photos, from 1995:

“The Smithsonian Institution has cut off all public access to a collection of nude photographs taken of generations of college students, some of whom went on to become leaders in American culture and government. The pictures at first were taken to study posture. Later they were made by a researcher examining what he believed to be a relationship between body shape and intelligence.”

If you’re interested in going any deeper into the issue, there is a summary article on the Harvard’s site (which was one of the schools involved) here.

Ooops… its been a while…

I should probably become more persistant with this, but I have been pretty busy with my schoolwork recently…

Anywho..things that have happened to me…

1. I’m home for Thanksgiving break. Though its cut short because of the awful planning of collegiate tournaments. I have to be back up at school Friday night. We leave for a meet at Harvard on Saturday morning. Ew.

2. I’ve just been contacted by a photographer at Penn State about a fencing modeling shoot, as well as future fashion shoots! SOOOO crazy!! I’m really excited! He told me to contact him when I return back to school.. Eeeek!

3. I got to have a lot of fun up at school before I left for break. I finished all of my exams last Thursday, so I really had nothing to do since then. I got to have fun, meet some new people and so forth.

4. I think I’ve gotten played/lied to once again. Which is absolutely not OK. I don’t really know what means I should used to go about figuring that situation… I miiiiight just wait until I go back to school though. We’ll seeeeeee.

But I do have to get back to studying for the Biology exam that I have when I get back to school… here’s the photographer’s website… check it out!

www.ryanmoorephoto.com

Ciao!!

xoxo

Monmons
I’m leaving you with one of his photos not on his site!

Hårvårdsföretaget Tigi har en serie med det något högtravande namnet Love Peace Planet. Produkterna är fria från parabener och SLS. Det är bra. Synd bara att man slänger i en massa syntetiska ämnen i de andra produktserierna.

Whether you have already applied to HBS in Round 1 and are hoping for an interview invitation, or are getting ready to apply in Round 2, we thought this would be a good time to share some more in-depth advice about what HBS looks for in its applicants. Obviously, Harvard is highly selective and can afford to look for “perfect” candidates. In addition to the common metrics such as GPA and GMAT score, the school specifies a handful of qualities and traits that it seeks in an applicant.

There are three things that HBS looks for its its applicants. These may seem obvious, but they’re all extremely important in successfully applying to HBS:

• A History of Leadership.As mentioned in the HBS Approach, the business school is highly focused on leadership. Professional leadership experience is the most common and transferable, but extracurricular, personal, and community leadership accomplishments and qualities are recognized as well.
• High Potential for Intellectual Growth. This is the portion of the HBS admissions process that puts a candidate’s undergraduate performance (reputation of institution, major, course work, GPA, trends, and so on) and GMAT scores under a microscope, to ensure that the candidate can thrive in the demanding case method-based courses. While HBS does not state a preferred major or career path, it demands a comfort with and aptitude for quantitative, analytical, and communication skills.
• A Record of Community Engagement. This element is as simple as it sounds: HBS is looking for people who have shown the ability to impact their communities and who will continue to do so both as a student and an alumnus. While this can be demonstrated in a host of settings and ways, paramount is a sincere commitment to helping others, viewed as an integral component of the responsibilities of leadership.

Showing all three of these attributes in your application won’t automatically earn you a spot at Harvard Business School, but NOT demonstrating these traits is a sure way not to gain admission. Think carefully about how persuasively you can demonstrate all of these attributes when you build your Harvard Business School candidacy.

If you want to learn more about Harvard, take a look at Veritas Prep’s HBS Annual Report, one of 15 completely free guides to the world’s top business schools. And, as always, be sure to follow us on Twitter!

Teetering and tottering, I arrived at Gate 11.  Through the dimly lit tunnel to the stadium, I saw blue-sweatered men and women jumping up and down, waving banners and pompoms, and yelling unrecognizable phrases, perhaps just a string of swears.  I pushed my way through the crowd formed at the entrance.  I could feel my head pounding, throbbing from the roars of intoxicated fans and dissatisfied coaches… or perhaps the half bottle of alcohol I consumed prior to arriving at the stadium.  Either way, my head was pounding… and so were the walls, floors, and any other concrete around me.  After avoiding drunkards staggering in the tunnel, I stood with full view of the stadium.  Was it that my eyes were blurry or could I really be seeing what I was seeing?  The stadium was packed… and a sea of blue engulfing the sporadic sprinkle of crimson red.  This was the annual Yale-Harvard football game, otherwise known as “The Game”. 

This year, The Game was held at Yale, hence blue dominating red.  And, as expected, everyone (and I mean, EVERYONE) was totally DRUNK!  Alumni ranging 35-60+ years old joked with their buddies over cups of beer.  The ones just a few years removed from college reenacted their college days by stumbling about the tailgates plastered.  And, the ones still in college… well, let’s just say, they were a jumble mess of drunken debauchery.

The whole event is fun, but if you ever go to Yale for The Game, you must do 3 things:

1. Tailgate
2. Have a burrito at the Burrito Cart
3. Go to Toad’s

What are tailgates, you ask?  One of the most exciting parts of going to an Ivy League football game.  (I mean, let’s be honest, they’re Ive-Leaguers…)  Before every game, but especially for The Game, residential colleges, frat and sorority houses, clubs and organizations from both schools gather with their U-Hauls outside of the stadium.  When held at Yale, each truck harbors half-a-dozen kegs, alcohol-infused fruits, hot cocoa mixed with Everclear, burgers, hot-dogs and other picnic goodies.  Starting at 7am, the trucks arrive with their treasures hidden from the eyes of the inspectors (of course, everyone, including the po-pos, understands that no one can keep out alky from the Yale tailgate, and thus turn a blind eye).  Once settled in their spots, the college students, frat bros and sorority sisters, club and organization reps all hang their banners high and mighty because part of this was a competition to see which U-Haul could attract the most drunken people.  Around 8am, the rest of campus plus all the alumni from the young twenty-somethings to the old sixty-somethings arrive to get the party started.  Remember, kickoff usually doesn’t start until noon.  So, for a good 4 hours, people are partying up a snowstorm outside the stadium.  By noon, everyone is drunk and ready to create a caucus at the game. 

Of course, after a whole day of drinking, everyone ends up starving.  The burgers and hot-dogs can barely contain a drunkard’s hunger.  Thus, everyone moves back to Yale campus for dinner.  You have your cheap but tasty Thai food, super cheap Chinese food, cook-as-you-order burgers, diner-type places, etc.  But no place, I mean, NO PLACE, beats the deliciously satisfying burrito from the Burrito Cart.  It is literally a cart standing outside Elm and York.  For $6, you get a large, expertly wrapped burrito full of marinated veggies, guac, sour cream, hot sauce and meat.  The taste is very distinct.  (After living in NYC for the past 3 years and getting burritos every chance I get, I still have yet to find a burrito as delectable as the burrito from the Burrito Cart!)  When I tasted the soft tortilla wrapped around the fresh and lightly marinated veggies mixed with the hot and tender carnitas, I was in food heaven!  Unfortunately, no verbal description of the burrito will do it justice.  That burrito has to be tasted and enjoyed.  Yes, it is THAT good!

Normally, after filling the stomach with food, most young alumni and college kids roll back to their dorms / hotels / crash pads, etc. for a mid-evening nap before embarking on a crazy night of fun (and skeeziness).  The skeeziness occurs at Toad’s, the only bar/night club in New Haven that regularly houses partying students. The club opens Wednesdays and Saturdays, and trust me, it is ALWAYS full.  The seniors usually go on Wednesdays, since no one goes to class anymore, and the underclassmen sneak in on Saturdays.  For this particular Saturday, the place is packed with people of all ages: college students who are barely (if at all) legal, alumni in their mid-twenties to early thirties, grad school students from both schools, and even townies.  They all gather in the dark and dirty room, looking and oftentimes succeeding in finding a hook-up for the night.  Each time you exit the premises, you immediately want to shower away all the griminess from the sleazy people in the club as well as the cups of alcohol accidentally thrown on you by drunk people.  You might think that you’ll never go back… but you always end up there.  That’s the beauty of Toad’s.

If you missed your chance this year, no worries, Yale will host it again in November 2011… so MARK YOUR CALENDARS!

Matt Logue’s book, "Empty Los Angeles."

News

• The Senate passes a motion, 60-39, to begin discussing the health care bill.

Sports

• Harvard’s Jeremy Lin is pioneering the way for Asian-American basketball players.

Miscellaneous

• Cultural factors limit the recession’s impact on Asian-American families.
• Chinese Americans reflect on Barack’s visit to China.
• Lost is back February 2, 2010!!
• Stefani Germanotta, aka Lady Gaga, back in the day …

A sharp rise in belief in hell boosts economic growth in developing countries, while an increase in church attendance slows growth. That’s the curious conclusion of a new study of the economic effects of religion.

Michael Fizgerald of the Boston Globe reports:

Here’s an excellent article from Harvard Health Publications about do it yourself heart surgery! No medical school education needed and no experience required!
Try it! It’s fun!

L’ateneo più conosciuto degli Stati Uniti ha deciso di fare un passo avanti per togliersi di dosso l’etichetta di università poco gay-friendly. Dopo anni di battaglie e discussioni, dal 2010 partirà la cattedra in lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender studies.

Dietro a questa importante scelta, si cela l’attività del The Harvard Gay & Lesbian Caucus. Composto da 4,700 ex alunni, studenti, membri di facoltà e di staff della comunità LGBT, nasce nel 1984 per spingere l’università di Harvard a includere l’orientamento sessuale nelle sue policies di non discriminazione.

Oggi HGLC mantiene e cerca di espandere un network tra la comunità LGBT di Harvard, Radcliffe College e la Harvard Graduate and Professional Schools con lo scopo di organizzare, servire e sostenere tutto il pubblico di lesbiche, gay, bisessuali e transgender dell’ateneo. Questo avviene tramite la forte volonta di perseguire obiettivi come:
-sviluppare un senzo di comunità e offrire opportunità di networking, tramite eventi sociali, newsletter e sito internet
-sostenere un ambiente di vita e di lavoro non discirminatorio e rispettoso delle diversità ad Harvard
-sponsorizzare o supportare programmi educativi o culturali per gli iscritti, gli studenti e il resto del pubblico universitario
-supportare gli studi delle tematiche LGBT in tutto il contesto d Harvard
-sostenere, e esortare Harvard a farlo, per tematiche di importanza per la comunità LGBT in senso allargato e
-supportare e aiutare il coordinamento dei gruppi autonomi all’interno della comunità LGBT

Una storia molto abba e molto interessante. E da noi? Quando succederà?

www.hglc.org

With all our freaks, geeks, and future politicians/sex solicitors, Harvard doesn’t really have a reputation for churning out “normal” people.  Most people believe that all Harvard students do in college is sleep and study, which doesn’t allow for any social interaction whatsoever.  Some of this is well-founded.  At our senior trip to a Red Sox game, I saw a girl furiously doing her math homework, calculator and all, right there in the bleachers of Fenway Park.  Harvard 1, Normal 0.

Most Harvard people, though, do come out pretty well-adjusted after college.  Unlike popular perception, we don’t always wear our elitist blazers with cashmere sweaters tied around our necks.  We don’t drink alcohol out of lab beakers and carry TI-83s to calculate our BACs (we do that in our heads). We still get shwastey-faced and make bad decisions at shady bars with unattractive strangers.

In fact, to show how normal we really are, let me tell you about “Chase”, a fellow Harvard grad from Jersey.

Chase is just another twenty-something with a steady job, a sweet girlfriend, and a gregarious personality.  He’s a very nice guy with good intentions.  But, he’s also crazy.  Crazy in a totally normal, Florida State way.

Even though I would best describe him as an “acquaintance,” I’ve seen Chase get drunk, get in fights, and get naked and run through the streets.  I’ve seen him projectile vomit, pass out, and ice-luge goldfish (multiple times, though not necessarily in that order).  At the Harvard-Yale tailgate on Saturday, I saw Chase operating at his very best: funneling Buds and leading raucous cheers about how much Yale sucks.

See?  At Harvard, we do have typical, jock-ish frat boys with high tolerances and low inhibitions.  So, you can say it: Harvard–they’re just like us!  (Notice how I reference popular mag Us Weekly to show how normal I am.)

Then again, as much as we love “normal” people (like Sarah Palin), perhaps we do need our leaders to deviate from the normal distribution.  I think I speak for everyone when I say that I don’t want our President crushing beers on his head while memorizing the nuclear codes.

“Do you realize,” my friend mused, as we watched Chase shotgun another Bud, “That Chase could be the Republican senator of New Jersey one day?”

At least it’s just Jersey.

By David Roher

A program for The Game, from 1968. (the-game.org)

Harvard and Yale played their 126th football game (known around these parts simply as “The Game”) yesterday. We elected not to do a preview on the blog because the outcome was obviously a near certainty. However, it is worth looking at one play in The Game that drew a lot of scrutiny.

Up 10-7 in the 4th quarter but facing 4th and 22 on their own 25 yard line, Yale’s coach, Tom Williams, elected to call a fake-punt, direct-snap-reverse run, which gained them only 15 yards. The call elicited sporadic chants of “Bel-i-chick! Bel-i-chick!” from the Harvard cheering section, according to an anonymous source (fine, my roommate). Harvard went on to score a TD and win.

Compared to Belichick’s call, Williams’ is more difficult to statistically analyze for two reasons:

• To my knowledge, there is no model of win probability developed for college football, unlike the models developed for pro football.
• The play was a fake, so we can’t just look at Yale’s or any other school’s chances of gaining 22 yards based on other plays. It was a fundamentally different call based on game theory, so we would have to look only at punt fakes. Again, I don’t know if this exists in an already analyzable format.

The first problem isn’t that big of a deal, as the data from the NFL for a situation like this is probably a good enough model. But the second is very limiting. It only allows us to determine, at best, the necessary probability of a play in order to justify going for it (rather than taking the actual probability of the play itself into account).

Here’s a chart from Football Commentary showing when to go for it on your own 20 yardline, close to Yale’s field position. If you’re up by three points with 3 minutes to go, the play must have at least a 72% chance of success in order for it to be the correct call. This chart likely assumes that a failure puts the ball on the original line of scrimmage, though. Given that the chart is already 5 yards off and the fact that a failure in this situation would probably result (and did) in a gain of yardage, it’s probably better to use this chart (from the 40), which gives a 65% standard.

All we can do from there is wonder whether the play had a 65% chance or better of succeeding. Given Yale’s strong punter, whose punts had netted an outstanding average of 37 yards, and their defense, which had allowed the fewest average points in the Ivy League, that number is likely higher contextually.

Williams might have thought that the play did have that kind of chance. He said after the game that they “had set that play up all year, and felt it was worth 22 yards.” That quote implies that he thought it would probably work, though. It had to have a significantly better chance than just >50% in order to have been the right call. I have trouble believing that any play, fake or not, could gain almost a quarter of the field seven out of ten times. While most controversial calls to go for it on 4th down, like Belichick’s, are usually correct, this one probably wasn’t, although we can’t be too confident about that until someone (HSAC?) develops both an open-source college football win probability formula and a solid analysis of fake plays.

On the other hand, going for it when down by three points results in a threshold of just 20%. Perhaps Williams was, like me, confused by the fact that his team was ahead at that point.

Edit: It looks like I’ve come to a very obvious conclusion, so let me at least say this: I think the above analysis shows that the play, while not the right decision, was not The Absolute Worst Coaching Decision Ever. The real problem is that we’ll never know how justified Tom Williams was in thinking that his trick play would work. I might venture, though, that the person who has the best guess is Tom Williams. I still think he made a bad call, but perhaps not as bad as the calls we see all the time to punt on fourth and short when losing in the fourth quarter.

I Just Think She’s Great.

Evidence From SNL A Few Years Back :

That is all.