The Great Women of China
June 14, 2008
The Great Women of China – WSJ.com
BEIJING — Here is China’s secret formula for topping the Olympic medal tally: two X chromosomes.
In China, it’s the women who have traditionally racked up the medals. At the 2000 Games in Sydney, the Chinese women won five more gold medals than the men. In Athens in 2004, the women won 19 gold medals, while the men won 12. By comparison, American women accounted for 12 of the nation’s 35 gold medals in 2004.
Although many Chinese athletes have yet to qualify for their 2008 Olympic berths, women are widely expected to outdo the men again this summer. Wrestling coach Zhang Zhetian says the country’s best odds for a wrestling medal lie with the women’s team. His reasoning? Women work harder. “Guys — you’ve got to push them more,” he says.
Microsoft eyeing Facebook
May 7, 2008
globeandmail.com: Microsoft eyeing Facebook: report
SEATTLE — Microsoft Corp. gauged Facebook’s interest in a possible acquisition after the software giant’s failed takeover attempt of Yahoo Inc., the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.
The newspaper reported on its website that Microsoft’s bankers put out subtle signals to Facebook, the social networking website, to see if it would be open to a full acquisition.
Dartmouth’s ‘Hostile’ Environment
May 7, 2008
Dartmouth’s ‘Hostile’ Environment – WSJ.com
Often it seems as though American higher education exists only to provide gag material for the outside world. The latest spectacle is an Ivy League professor threatening to sue her students because, she claims, their “anti-intellectualism” violated her civil rights.
Priya Venkatesan taught English at Dartmouth College. She maintains that some of her students were so unreceptive of “French narrative theory” that it amounted to a hostile working environment. She is also readying lawsuits against her superiors, who she says papered over the harassment, as well as a confessional exposé, which she promises will “name names.”
What a crazy prof. I wish I was in that class!
