Year: 2008

Posted on

Behind the Cal Poly & Saudi Arabian Green Door!

Behind the Cal Poly - Saudi Arabian Green Door
I love getting emails from people. I was forwarded a particularly interesting series of emails allegedly from one of the administrators of the Cal Poly School of Engineering. It makes wonderful reading as the lack of transparency has always been one of the big issues in dealing with Cal Poly on any level.

I have written the Cal Poly administrator directly to ask if he has any comment and I’ll post his response.

It is troubling that Cal Poly is doing all they can to make the deal regardless of obvious ethical concerns (May 20th deadline). They really should be thinking about whether or not they SHOULD DO the deal at all?

Stay Tuned,

Roger Freberg

PS. I have also received an email from North Carolina which is very interesting… especially since the writer also liked my Beef Stroganoff recipe!

Posted on

Travel, Business and Education in China!

Business Cards are fundamental for travelers
My daughters have been planning their trip to China (Beijing to be exact) for some time. They plan to see all of the great attractions: the Great Wall, the Square, the Forbidden City and a martial arts theater. Karen’s classmate ‘Han’ suggested that she frequent a certain ‘secret’ alley of shops known to the locals… but to keep an eye on changing prices!

The original intent of the trip was in conjunction with a presentation Karen is giving at the Reputation Institute. However, this has evolved into a grand experience for the two of them.

As a parent of adult children, my participation is limited to researching great things to see and do… which is fun… although I have to — sadly — remind myself that I am not the one going! I guess that’s what parents sometimes do… wave at their adventurous offspring as they meet the world.

I did suggest that there is a new culinary school to visit, plus the names of some interesting restaurants… but then, they don’t have all the time in the world.

Have fun!

Dad

Yep, they even have their Business Cards!

Posted on

sssshhhh! Saudi Arabia is watching YOU!

shhh... knock, knock...who's there?

Oh, anyone who has had a web site for more than a smidget of time knows the purpose of a ‘hits log’ ( the record of who visits your site leaving — sometimes- a distinctive DNS number). In addition, there are many services that will give you some quick and dirty tracking of your visitors… like sitemeter… so it is always interesting to see that whenever I put ‘Saudi Arabia’ or ‘Cal Poly and Saudi Arabia’… I get some interesting visitors.

Saudi Arabia is clearly one of the biggest ‘internet’ censors…. so you can imagine how fascinating it is for me to see someone on my site from that part of the world. Although they don’t want information coming into the country.. they do want to know what folks are saying in the outside world about them.

By the way, if you don’t know what’s going on between Saudi Arabia and Cal bin Poly… read this blog or do a little google searching.

Have fun!

Roger Freberg

Posted on

Cal Poly Students elect ‘Saudi Deal’ Critic as President

I LooOoooOOve Cal Poly Engineering!Cal Poly students elected vocal ‘Saudi Deal critic’ Angella Kramer overwhelmingly as student body President at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

In a daring move on the day of election, the two college presidents of the Cal Poly Democrats and Cal Poly Republicans came out with a personal strong endorsement letter in the student newspaper of Angela Kramer:

“….and (she) stood up at ASI board meetings when all others remained silent. An important example of this lies in the recent student outcry over the pending contract with JUC in Saudi Arabia. Students wanted a forum to have their concerns addressed when previous attempts to talk about the issue were shut down. Angela was the only member of the Board of Directors who stood up in public repeatedly, not only against discriminatory programs, but also in support of the rights of students to be heard by members of the Cal Poly administration, including President Baker.”

Not everyone at every university is so quick to sell their principles for some quick cash. Some folks have begun to rethink their positions, even at UC Berkeley:

UC Berkeley’s civil and environmental engineering department declined to join KAUST.

There is much different between us and the Saudis and although one wants to be accepting; however, we must recognize that tolerance only goes to the point of sacrificing who we are. We are a free nation, they are not. Women have a place in our world, women are cattle in theirs. There are more comparisons equally disturbing.

Just say no to the Saudis.

Roger Freberg

What Cal Poly’s Dance Really Costs
Cal Poly: Learning to do Bad by Doing!
at the Cal Poly Gender Apartheid Oasis
Cal Poly degrees for sale!
Cal Poly’s REAL Responsibility is at home!

The WORLD to Cal Poly: the Saudis are a BAD Deal!