MetaFilter posts tagged with Princeton

1966 GE College Bowl: Agnes Scott vs. Princeton

ocherdraco — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 20:47:01 -0800

In 1966, NBC broadcast a GE College Bowl match between a team from Princeton University (all male, of course—Princeton wouldn't go co-ed until three years later) and a team from Agnes Scott College, a small women's college in Decatur, Georgia. In one of the most exciting upsets in the history of the program, after trailing early, Agnes Scott came from behind to win, pushed over the edge by Karen Gearreald's final answer, with only one second left on the clock. "That young lady, by the way, was the only person in the theater who could not see the clock," the program's host, Robert Earle, later wrote. "She is blind." So where are they now? The Atlanta Journal-Constitution followed up with the winning Agnes Scott team and their coach in 2008. Karen Gearreald, Agnes Scott's first blind student, got her Ph.D. at Harvard, a law degree at Duke, and after years as a Navy lawyer, works on projects for the visually impaired, and has the distinction of being the personal hero of Georgia State football coach Bill Curry. Malinda Snow, captain of the Agnes Scott team, is a professor of English at Georgia State University, and is a Sacred Harp shape note singer (she wrote the article on Sacred Harp in the New Georgia Enclyclopedia). Katherine Bell died in the 1980s, after a career as a botanist that included research on a little-known arctic mountain plant, Kobresia bellardi. She taught botany and ecology at the University of Nevada. Betty Butler Ravenholt is an internationally known expert on family planning (one of her papers). And the Princeton boys, who were "knocked off by a bunch of girls from Agnes Scott"? Team captain Steve Chernicoff, who's written several books on Macintosh computers, eventually went on to be one of the biggest winners on Jeopardy! in the mid-1990s. Then-freshman Steve Kahler eventually decided to major in biology, and is now a professor of Pediatrics at the University of Arkansas College of Medical Sciences. James Kostman (who couldn't quite beat Katherine Bell to the buzzer on the question about Parmenides) became a professor of philosophy, with a special interest in Plato. And of Frank Ward, I've found nothing, except that he did, indeed, finish his thesis on the influence of the American Revolution on the legal profession in New Jersey.

Videos of university courses

Kattullus — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 14:59:36 -0800

Academic Earth collects lectures on a wide variety of subjects from UC Berkely, Harvard, MIT, Princeton, Stanford and Yale that the universities have released under Creative Commons. The site is still in beta so it doesn't quite have the thousands of lectures its frontpage promises. It has many full courses, for example Benjamin Polak teaching game theory, Amy Hungerford on the American novel since 1945, Charles Bailyn's introduction to astrophysics, John Merriman on the history of France since 1871, Shelly Kagan on death and Oussama Khatib's introduction to robotics.

The World's Safest Railroad

tellurian — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 14:54:40 -0800

The Subway Sun and The Elevated Express &reswere posters used to inform passengers travelling on the IRT. A couple that tickled my fancy - the unlikely to happen Sociability Limit and an Obnoxious Custom. [via]

Mapping Globalization

desjardins — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 14:11:14 -0800

What does "globalization" look like? Princeton's searchable collection of historical maps and present-day analysis, including Artists' Travels in the Renaissance, an 1891 ethnographic chart, Telegraph Lines in 1869, Global Terrorism c. 1983, Oil reserves vs. consumption, a visualization of world development since 1960. (via)

Life is complex: it has both real and imaginary components

Blazecock Pileon — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 05:31:50 -0800

More than fifty selected articles from The Princeton Companion of Mathematics (username: Guest, password: PCM) — a thematically-organized compendium of mathematics and mathematicians from Fields Medal-winner Tim Gowers. [via, previously]

"We were just trying to write songs about prostitutes and lesbians, that's all."

Blazecock Pileon — Thu, 19 Apr 2007 21:25:09 -0800

Introduced to Western culture by the Beatles in their single Norwegian Wood, the sitar has featured prominently in North Indian classical music for centuries. Princeton-based computer scientist Ajay Kapur updates the instrument with his ESitar, an audio and video controller that uses gesture input (PDF) and machine learning algorithms to facilitate joining the computer with Ajay in his sitar performance. Undergraduate engineering students at the University of Pennsylvania work from the other direction, building RAVI-bot, an award-winning, self-playing robotic sitar (YouTube) programmed to generate music from classical Raga scales and melodies all on its own. For those in the Philadelphia area, be sure to check out a live performance of RAVI-bot at the local Klein Art Gallery.

Art of Science

dhruva — Mon, 05 Jun 2006 00:27:16 -0800

Art of Science 2006 'images, videos and sounds—produced in the course of research or incorporating tools and concepts from science.' Previously on MeFi.

...almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea.

loquacious — Tue, 28 Mar 2006 01:32:01 -0800

"...the answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything is..." "Yes? Yes!?" "...42."
via Dyson, Montgomery, Princeton, a cup of tea - as presented by Seed Magazine.

Higher Education Podcasts

trey — Fri, 21 Oct 2005 06:27:44 -0800

Stanford iTunes is a service from Stanford University that allows the public access to free speeches, lectures, forums, and more via iTunes. Want more academic audio content? Check out the University Channel at Princeton or the Havens Center at UW-Madison.

Art of Science

madamjujujive — Sun, 05 Jun 2005 06:40:27 -0800

Art of Science Competition 2005 - A gallery of images celebrating the aesthetics of research at Princeton University. (via Amygdala)

Filibustering The Frist Center

nathanrudy — Fri, 29 Apr 2005 13:50:49 -0800

Princeton Students and Polticians Stage Filibuster -- Princeton students started a filibuster at the Frist Campus Center at Princeton University to protest the impending unloading of the "nuclear option" in the United States Senate. Bill Frist is a Princeton alum and his family donated the building the filibuster is in front of. It's been going on for a whopping 78 hours already and looks to at least go through the weekend. Congressman Rush Holt (D-NJ) spoke earlier today, and NJ Assemblyman Reed Gusciora was there yesterday. They've even got physicists (one and two) and a Nobel Prize winner.

Hand bookbindings at Princeton

Slithy_Tove — Thu, 10 Mar 2005 22:39:06 -0800

Hand bookbindings.
web design by Mihai Parparita, via Evan Martin's LJ

Researchers have created a 3D search engine.

geeknik — Thu, 15 Apr 2004 22:17:10 -0800

Researchers have created a 3D search engine. Sketch the object you're looking for and the search engine will attempt to find it.

Generic Rap Song

timbley — Thu, 15 Jan 2004 11:19:49 -0800

Generic Rap Song by Princeton student. An excellent undergrad piece that lampoons the current state of rap music. Includes a satirical rap song (complete with downloadable MP3, streaming audio, downloadable DivX video, and streaming RealVideo) and an analysis of each verse. Even an essay that compares the satire in the piece with some 200 year-old satire ("A Modest Proposal" by Jonathan Swift). Amazing, accurate, and funny as all get out.

to reflect so poorly

plexi — Mon, 03 Mar 2003 08:45:26 -0800

Plagiarism is an ugly word. Ung Lee, a Princeton Graduate, has one numerous awards for his writing, under the tutelage of Joyce Carl Oates. It's just that so many of those words were not his own.

taumeson — Tue, 08 Oct 2002 09:01:59 -0800

Ever visit the Pro Football Hall of Fame? I haven't...I live in Florida. In honor of football season, however, check it out online. It has some pretty neat features, like how football teams got named, concise team histories, and a timeline of how American Football came about. Princeton vs. Rutgers in 1869 started it all....

flatlander — Wed, 14 Aug 2002 16:53:26 -0800

Princeton Disciplining Staff for Yale Web Site Break-Ins (NY Times) What a great example to set for the students. Princeton officials in the admissions department hack into the Yale Admissions department system. No one gets fired and the university official who first performed the dastardly deed, Stephen E. LeMenager, "...would be moved to another job at Princeton." as punishment. Also, "...its longtime dean of admission and Mr. LeMenager's boss, to remain in place until next June, when he will retire as previously planned.
What is Yale's take on this? "Yale's president, Richard C. Levin, said in a statement yesterday that he was impressed by the thoroughness of Princeton's investigation,...".
This is the best, "...when Mr. LeMenager told a Yale admissions official of his ability to enter the Yale Web site at a meeting of Ivy League admissions officials in May, Dr. Tilghman said, the ensuing discussion at the meeting was about security issues, not about the impropriety of the action."
The president of Princetons final words on the situation, "We will learn from this and make changes," she said, "and move on as a better place."
And now who is surprised by what happened at WorldCom, ENRON, TYCO and on Wall Street ?
Shouldn't Princeton make an example of these clowns?
Shouldn't Yale demand more satisfaction?
I guess they don't call it the Ivy League for nothing.
Fire the bastards!

realityblurred — Thu, 25 Jul 2002 18:51:56 -0800

Princeton admissions officers broke into Yale's admissions system using prospective students' birth dates and Social Security numbers. They "viewed Yale admissions decisions" of 11 students; Princeton's dean of admissions says "[i]t was really an innocent way for us to check out the security." The FBI is "assessing the information to see if there is a federal violation."

TiggleTaggleTiger — Wed, 16 Jan 2002 15:34:23 -0800

The Washington Post makes fun of foolish freshmen at Princeton.
Jeff Linkous must have been a Yalie.

grumblebee — Tue, 02 Oct 2001 04:14:11 -0800

Can the human mind affect random number generators? Sounds absurd (especially to a diehard skeptic like me), but this research is coming out of Princeton, not some fringe group. And here is an independent experiment which seems to confirm the effect. I've emailed CSICOP and The Skeptic Magazine about it, but haven't heard back yet. Anyone know anything about this stuff?

vraxoin — Tue, 25 Sep 2001 10:29:09 -0800

Princeton's Global Consciousness Project Readings Spiked on September 11. Was there, as The Boundary Institute believes, a "disturbance in the force" recorded by Princeton's GCP? Seems crazy to me, but the "princeton.edu" in the URL and the complicated-looking graphs must mean something.

jeb — Tue, 10 Jul 2001 12:37:32 -0800

Princeton president pines for peculiar persons. "Princeton University's new president, Shirley Tilghman, says her campus has a problem: not enough weirdos. 'I would like to think we could begin to attract students with green hair. We will take pink and blue and orange hair, too.'" The rest of the article is pretty bland, but that quote is hilarious.

DiplomaticImmunity — Fri, 27 Apr 2001 08:46:04 -0800

Princeton Backs Down "Litigation is costly, time-consuming, and uncertain, regardless of the merits of the other side's case. We remain committed to free speech and to the value of scientific debate to our country and the world." Sorry for the drama, but as a scientist I have to go off and vomit now.

Steven Den Beste — Thu, 09 Nov 2000 20:17:38 -0800

It seems the SDMI team would rather declare victory than actually be victorious. In order to qualify for the prize, you have to sign an NDA and not reveal how you broke in. The Princeton team refused to sign and apparently SDMI no longer thinks they count. Instead, the Princeton team intends to publish their results, including how to deactivate all the systems. But since Princeton won't get any money, that apparently means SDMI is secure. What a bunch of maroons.