While the graduate degree has always held its lure in the world of academia, lately the Masters in Business Administration (MBA) has enjoyed special courtship.
I sat all day in front of my TV with my eyes glued to the screen and my thumb glued to the remote, flicking between CNBC, CNN and CSPAN. Even though all three channels were streaming uninterrupted coverage of the same events, I had a hard time believing they were true. I was shocked and disappointed that the bill had not passed. The pitiful blame game that ensued in Washington after the first attempt at passing the bailout bill failed made the hopes of passing almost anything in the House look dismal. For the first few hours after the vote, not a single nay-saying representative owned up to his or her decision. The Republicans blamed the Democrats; House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) was at particular fault for her harsh words earlier in the day. She had explained how the "budget recklessness" of the Republican administration and the "anything goes economic policy" of the GOP had been the obvious cause of our current economic "chaos." She went further to speak disapprovingly of the "golden parachute" lawmakers had thrown together in this planned taxpayer "bailout" of Wall Street. In listening to her speech, it is hard to believe that it was the Democratic majority that was fighting so hard to push the bill through the House; it is easy to see how her words offended the Republican minority. Republicans charged that it was the responsibility of the majority to pass the bill. The Democrats were unable to rally support in their own party, and this was a failure on their part. The Democratic naysayers hid sheepishly behind their constituencies for most of the afternoon. In true form, Wall Street and the media reacted dramatically. The Dow plummeted 777.7 points — a seven-percent drop. Harsh headlines flowed out of newsrooms: "Bloodbath," "Financial Armageddon," "Massacre," "Wall Street R.I.P.," etc. It was almost surprising to wake up this morning and find the sun still rises. In fact, in the light of a new day, it seems some optimism has returned; 777.7 points is an enormous drop — trillions of dollars disappeared from the markets. IRAs, college savings accounts and personal portfolios fell in value across the board. Alternatively, 777.7 points is just a couple hundred points below the level of the Dow before the bailout plan was announced. Monday's decline is being heralded as the biggest closing-point drop ever. This may be true, but 777.7 points was only seven percent of the index. In 1987 the Dow lost 23 percent of its value in a single day. Monday's fall was the result of a panic. Market volatility, as measured by the VIX index, was at some of the highest levels ever recorded. The fundamentals underneath each of the tumbling public companies had not changed in a day. Granted, fundamentals will change if the credit spigot is not turned back on, but the legislative process is far from over. The bailout bill did not pass Monday, but that does not mean it will never pass. In interviews given Tuesday morning, House representatives from both sides of the fence seemed to be committed to fast action with equal fervor. The general outrage of both American and global economies and the brief taste of a credit freeze on Monday afternoon will hopefully be enough to persuade Middle America of the importance of this unsuitably titled "bailout." As long as there is hope that this crisis will pass then there is hope for consumer and investor confidence. If fear can pull the market down 777.7 points then optimism can buoy it even further up. The decoupling theory is out the window; the world markets are falling faster and harder than our own. The American financial system has not totally surrendered its supremacy. There is still a chance to recover the world's trust. As citizens and investors it is our job to allow for this hope. I am not suggesting naïveté: None of us should bury our head in the sand and hope by the time we graduate this will blow over. There are very few who truly understand what is going on and far fewer who know how to go about fixing it. Nevertheless, we must retain our pragmatism, which means being able to sort out what is truth from what is hyperbole. Panic and misinformation are our worst enemies. They are contagious and deepen the crisis unnecessarily. We must evaluate the fundamentals of our economy, our legislature and our investments. As for the Tufts Financial Group, we will continue to invest as we have in the past: for the long run with a macroeconomic methodology. If over the next two weeks a solution to America's credit woes is not reached, then several of our current holdings and tentative investments could be negatively affected. We will have to reposition ourselves and like everyone else, prepare for a sharper economic downturn. Still, there will always be growth stories. If we catch a bear year now, then hopefully we'll catch the booming bull that's sure to follow. --
According to the way people read the Mayan calendar, the world will end on Dec. 12, 2012. In some ways, that's a bit of a relief, because I really am worried about what state Internet jokes will be in by then. Internet jokes are like a horror-movie blob — always growing, engulfing everything in their path, their hunger becoming more and more ravenous. Where once a cow or a piece of bad translation concerning the proper ownership of bases could sustain it for a few weeks, now a joke appears on the Internet only to die from exhaustion moments later. It spreads like a plague now, everyone telling each other about it and quoting it like someone was handing out free iPhones to who can mention RickRolls the most in a three minutes. This summer, I actually heard one of my coworkers ask, "What's a LOLcat?" I was so dumbfounded that he had not heard about them so much to the point where he wanted to bash in the brains of the next person who said, "I can has cookie," that I could not even form a cogent sentence to answer his question. What is even worse is when someone, convinced that something beautiful and simple on the Internet is not good enough, decides that he must make it better. For this, you must be familiar with a video along the lines of "Yatta" or "Moskau." Both of these are videos of foreign bands performing a ridiculous "song and dance" number, the main joke being "Man, people from outside the United States can sure be silly!" These videos in and of themselves were good fun, an easy way to kill a few minutes when you should have been studying or writing a paper. However, someone in Internet land decided that these were not good enough. Instead of just letting them be, this genius took it upon himself to write out what the closest-sounding English words would be to the lyrics of the song and then make a flash animation to give a corporal counterpart to every word of this newfound, stream-of-consciousness poem. Is this more amusing than the original? No. Is it even anywhere near the level of absurdity and fun of the original? No. As with, Gus Van Sant's remake of "Psycho" (1998), one must wonder during every poorly drawn flame of this animation, "Why did I not just go back to the first video instead of wasting my time on this?" And the answer to that is, "Because it is new and will keep your attention for another 4 minutes as the Internet desperately tries to find something new for you that has not already been beaten to death." And then, of course, there's Weezer's "Pork and Beans" video. In the three-and-a-half minutes of the song, the band creates a haunted house, populated by none other than the ghosts of Internet has-beens of the past five years. While this might have been something brilliant, meta and post-modern if done right (yeah, and perhaps Hollywood will actually start believing in "Ars Gratia Artis" as well…), it ended up just being another excuse for all of these "15 IMs of fame" folks to just do their exact same schtick over again. Except this time they had the support of a real pop band and now, just in case we had missed them the first time, Weezer was going to make sure that if we saw this video, all 20-or-so of these characters would be shoved down our throats. Naturally, "Pork and Beans" became a YouTube sensation. Having run all of our Internet and humor resources dry, Youtube had no choice for content but to turn on itself.
State and city officials joined educators in Ballou Hall yesterday to stress the need for involvement from local governments in building healthy communities.
Volunteers at yesterday's Rock the Vote event achieved their goal by signing up over 100 students to receive absentee ballots for the upcoming presidential election. "It was definitely a success — it was always busy," said sophomore Amy Glazier, who helped run the Hillel-sponsored event. Glazier and others set up a booth on the campus center patio, where they helped students enlist online to receive ballots in the mail. Volunteers also helped some students register to vote.
Welcome to the Daily's interactive police blotter map. Click each point on the map to learn about the incident that happened there.
The House of Representatives yesterday rejected a $700 billion bailout of the financial industry, even as congressional leaders pleaded for its passage and argued that it was necessary to stave off a devastating economic collapse.
Mickey Rapkin's recent book, "Pitch Perfect: The Quest for Collegiate A Cappella Glory," drew widespread attention for exploring the subculture of one of college's biggest and most perplexing phenomena, that of a cappella groups, which feature hoards of students across the country who sing for crowds without instrumental accompaniment.
DuPont has selected Ellen Kullman (E '78) to become its president and chief executive officer (CEO), making her the first woman to lead a major U.S. chemical company, the corporation announced last Tuesday.
It's about time. For some, it's uncomfortable, sure. But if filling out a survey is what it takes to help students help themselves, I would hope that students see that a little inconvenience upfront can provide the means for breaking down the barrier between college students and mental illness.
These clips were filmed and narrated by JumboCast; the compilation above was produced by the Tufts Daily. For video of more of the game, click here or visit http://www.jumbocast.com.
The Tufts Athletics Department honored the best of Jumbo sports from 2007-08 Friday night at its Annual Awards Ceremony in Cohen Auditorium. Kendall Swett (LA ‘08) won the Hester L. Sargent Award as the top female athlete for her NCAA titles in the 3-meter and 1-meter dives, while Steve Ragonese (LA ‘08) took the Clarence "Pop" Houston award as the best male athlete for his efforts on the baseball team, having earned NESCAC Player of the Year. The Rudolph J. Fobert Awards for the best multi-sport athlete was shared by cross country/track runners Cat Beck (LA ‘08) and Katy O'Brien (E ‘08) for the women, and junior Alex Perry won for competing on both the football and baseball teams. Adam Arsenault (LA ‘08) from the football team and Rebecca Abbott (E '08) from the soccer team each took home the Murray Kenney Award for positive attitude and persistence. The Timothy J. Horgan Award for excellence in student sports writing on campus went to Daily editor Sapna Bansil.
At the time of the 2000 U.S. Census, 28.1 million people living in America spoke Spanish at home, and of that number, just over half reported that they could speak English "very well." Since 2000, sustained immigration from Latin American countries and the persistent use of Spanish by second- and even third-generation speakers have only caused the use of the language to increase.
As university residence halls seek to transition into more homey environments -- with additions like full kitchens and single-stall bathrooms -- pet ownership is still forbidden for the majority of dorm residents. But several universities, including MIT, have now added some pets to the "acceptable" list of dorm possessions.
Somerville Alderman Bob Trane, who lost to state Rep. Carl Sciortino (LA '00) in a primary contest last week, is pursuing legal action against the Somerville Journal for publishing a cartoon that his campaign described as "outrageous and unfair."
131 The number of shots the field hockey team has fired off in just five games this season. The Jumbos have scored on 29 of those shots, which means they've notched more goals than their opponents have attempted against them (23) this year. The team has won four of its five games by a margin of at least five goals.
In case you've been living in a box for the past week, you may have missed the debut of FOX's classiest show to date: "Hole In The Wall." Essentially, the show puts everyday nimrods in jumpsuits and forces them to shape their bodies to the contours of a hole that's cut into a moving wall. Think Tetris, only with humans. To add insult to injury, the show's motto is "It's Time To Face The Hole!"
The Daily spoke with Michael Cera and Kat Dennings about their new film, "Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist." The film follows Nick (played by Cera), a member of a band called "The Jerk Offs" who sees his ex-girlfriend with a new guy at one of his gigs. Nick quickly turns to Norah (Dennings) to be his makeshift girlfriend for a few face-saving minutes. The rest of the film follows the pair as they run across New York City to see a band's secret performance. Cera and Dennings were both exhausted from their long press tour but took some time to kick back and answer some questions. Question: Since this movie is about a crazy night following an underground band, can you tell me the craziest night you've ever had? Kat Dennings: We had some crazy nights filming the movie. Well, you know, middle of the night in New York City, drunk people throwing things, yelling at us, wanting us out of their places where they like to be. I understand, I totally understand. I think they'll be happy, though, when they see it. We got kicked out of a music store because we were kind of disrupting their sales. We went in and we all started to play the instruments and kind of have a jolly time, and they were like, "You're ruining our store." Michael Cera: It was understandable. Q: Why do you think this film will connect with audiences the same way I'm assuming it did with the two of you? MC: I think Pete has a really authentic directing style and he really captures this kind of tone of like a one-night adventure kind of thing. He does it really truthfully, I think. And anyone who has had a night like this or gotten to know someone over a — KD: Or wanted to have a night like this. MC: Yes, made a friendship over a condensed period of time can relate or at least fantasize about it. KD: I agree, and also, one thing that is really cool about watching the film, that Mike and I both think, is it feels, when you watch it, like it felt making it. It just feels really joyful and fun and adventurous when you watch it. Q: How do you prepare to do a kissing scene in a film with someone that you're working around all the time? KD: You brush your teeth. MC: Eat a sandwich. KD: Michael eats sandwiches and I brush my teeth, because I'm from Philadelphia and that's how they do it there. MC: I eat a toothpaste sandwich. Q: What is it like working on a movie based on a book, compared to working on comedies that can be improvised and changed like "Charlie Bartlett" [2008] or "Superbad" [2007]? MC: No difference to me. I mean, those movies still have scripts and structure, and that dictates what scene you're going to work on and what is going to happen in it that's going to drive the story, but you just have some freedom to say whatever you want. But in terms of scheduling and procedure it's the same; it's just that there's less of a strict dialogue situation. And with this movie we could say whatever we wanted because the only real story was us getting to know each other, so it was kind of irrelevant what the conversations were that we were having. KD: Yes, interestingly enough "Charlie Bartlett" was pretty script driven. I don't recall improvising that much on "Charlie Bartlett" at all. But, this was filmed during the writers' strike. But like Mike said, it's all just us getting to know each other and liking each other, so it kind of didn't matter what we said, and we improvised a bit. But I think it all flows pretty well, if I do say so myself. Q: You play like the awkward teenager really well, and you've been doing that in a lot of movies. Do you want to branch out and kind of play some other types of characters? And if so, which types of characters would those be? MC: I'm currently working on project where I kidnap a young boy and proceed to smack him around. Q: In the movie, your characters are running all over New York, looking for this band. What would you guys run all over New York all night to find? MC: Oh, a child. KD: Yes, if I lost like a family member, if there was an emergency, but probably not for leisure. I don't find those types of things relaxing. Q: I have a question about your Web shows that you both have. I know Kat has kind of a YouTube channel and also, Michael, you did Drunk History on YouTube. What attracted you guys to that whole scene of filming? MC: I just did it with my friend, you know, my friend Derek Waters does this live comedy show in LA, and he was making it for that, and it was fun. KD: I've had this written blog for seven years, so when YouTube came around, it's another way to blog and it just seemed like a natural thing and a kind of fun thing. Q: Okay, and you guys have both been doing the comedy movies, and I was wondering if you would want to do a different type of movie in the future and, if so, what kind would it be? KD: I think I can speak for both us when we say that it just depends on the script. And, if the script happens to be funny, then so be it. But also it comes to happen where you playing a sort of dramatic role in a comedy or vice versa. It just depends on the material and the director and what you want to do. It's not really a calculated decision.
The men's soccer team celebrates a goal during last night's 2-0 victory over the Springfield College Pride on Bello Field. The volleyball team also emerged victorious in midweek non-conference play, overcoming the Brandeis Judges 3-1 last night in Cousens Gym. See tomorrow's Daily for full coverage.
