Month: April 2008

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Cal Poly : learning to do Bad by Doing

Shows Us the Conteract with Saudi ArabiaWell, the ever popular and hard to find President Warren Baker of Cal Poly State University San Luis Obispo decided that he was going to proceed with his scheme of doing business with one of the smaller backwater gender apartheid universities of Saudi Arabia.

Very few people haven’t heard of this idea… because it has been covered nationally…. and most think this isn’t a great plan… except possibly those hiding in a cave somewhere in Afghanistan.

Nevertheless, Warren Baker promised to show the world the ‘contract’ he is offering the Saudi’s …. as he is so proud of it.

Recently, however, it was determined that he ‘misspoke’ because one of his handlers corrected the statement that no contract will be available for viewing…. ever … by anyone.

Funny, Why would anyone so proud of a contract not be willing to show both the English and Arabic versions? It doesn’t take a Ph.D. to figure this out.

So now Saudi Arabia has its own American University from which great things can happen.

Years from now, I hope we remember who started this.

MORE on Uncoverslo.com 

Roger Freberg

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take it to the matresses

how many times in life do we really have to 'go to the mattresses?' too often

Have you ever noticed how many times in one’s life it becomes necessary to ‘go to the mattresses?’….. to go to ‘war’ to preserve something important to you?

It’s one of those often cruel lessons in life that one’s mere existence is often a constant struggle. It seems all to easy to give into evil of one kind or another, roll over and die.

Now that I have totally depressed you, allow me to say that it is the struggle that is noble and inspiring, whether or not the obstacle is ever overcome. Victory is sweet, but at least if you are ‘struggling, striving, reaching’ , then you are still in the game! The journey is often sweeter than the destination.

So whether your efforts are fighting the ‘hamsters’ of our time*, or the villains within us…. by ‘taking it to the mattresses’ we maintain who we are.

Roger Freberg

*’hamsters’ is a polite family expression for unpleasant people

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Birthdays are always Special

well... I am 56 years old.... kinda amazing to me
Well, my birthday this year had some special meaning to me given my poor father didn’t make it to this age … and others I know might not …. so, it’s important to appreciate the ‘journey.’
SOooOO… this year, I wanted to depart from the lovely Black Forest Cake Laura makes me and made a request for something I have recently come to enjoy with a small change. I asked for a cheesecake with a blueberry topping.

Laura always bakes in secret, so it’s tough to get the recipes she loves to make from her! All I can say, it was marvelous! The topping wasn’t your typical blueberry… yum! Of course, the right champagne made it perfect!
Here’s the basic recipe!

Roger Freberg

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30 years of Chocolate Chip Cookies

My Favorite Chocolate chip Cookie

Almost everyone I know still uses a chocolate chip recipe on the back of a bag of chocolate chips or in a cookie book. This is sad, when the best recipes are still out there… although somewhat forgotten and unused.

Back in the mid ’70’s, the humble chocolate chip cookie was about to get ‘customized!’ (then, nearly 80% of all cookies baked from scratch were chocolate chip cookies… surprised? I suspect that this hasn’t changed much)

As an ol’ chocolate salesman from that era, I remember Famous Amos and his wonderful fist size cookies. Don’t look for them today…. they are not what they once were. However, for us chocolate lovers, it gave us a chance to rush to our test kitchens and try our hand at making ours better.

So, I thought, what’s better than to add the three most popular ingredients in cookie making: chocolate chips, peanut butter and oatmeal?

So here’s our recipe!

You can still make cookies best from scratch!

Roger Freberg

Hey, today’s my birthday… Jenny Craig will just have to understand

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at the Cal Poly Gender Apartheid Oasis

Cal Poly & Bin Laden Connection?
Cal Poly President Warren Baker has decided that He will sign the Cal Poly and Saudi Arabian deal within a month. How this program snuck by the faculty, students and the public without review is still a point of irritation.

Apparently, Gender Apartheid is still alive and well at Cal Poly and Saudi Arabia.

Of course, although there is a travel warning to American Citizens regarding Saudi Arabia , Cal poly plans to go ahead…. if there is a buck in it! Other areas that include warnings are resort locations like: Iraq, Afghanistan, the West Bank, Sudan and Yemen.
Cal Poly Learning Discrimination by DoingIn a related decision, the university plans to use more and more masters level students to cover the teaching load. It is important to realize that these individuals would not be qualified to teach at the community college. I will predict that these barely degreed undergraduates will take over more and more classes at Cal Poly. It is clear that this will now allow ‘the appropriate’ faculty free time to teach Saudi Nationals.

Again, how is this part of the Cal State university mission?

Apparently, the Dean of Engineering Mohammad Noori will be addressing the Engineering Students today…. it will be a good opportunity in this open forum to quiz Mohammad Noori about why this is so good for Cal Poly, women and other under represented groups. Why all the secrecy? Why the lack of consultation if this was such a good idea?

Roger Freberg

Edmund Burke: “When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle.“