Month: February 2008

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Faculty Questioning Cal Poly’s Saudi Connection

Cal Poly's Warren Baker & his Saudi Connection
It is rumored… and don’t we all love rumors… that Cal Poly’s Saudi Connection is being questioned by virtually all of the past chairs of the Faculty Academic Senate of Cal Poly. It seems like they want to formally show their disapproval. Obviously, the administration is desperately trying to invoke various parliamentary procedures and sycophants to try to silence the measure.

Time will tell if the controversial Dean of Engineering Mohammad Noori or President Warren Baker are successful in silencing their critics.

In the meantime, steve.chawkins@latimes.com of the Los Angeles Times has blown the ‘regional cover’ off the story with an article in today’s paper! An important part of the article was in it’s final summary statement:

“Look at South Africa,” he said. “The University of California divested from South Africa, along with the rest of the world, and apartheid came to an end.”

Cal Poly says that ‘we’re’ (those who think discrimination is not nice) trying to embarrass the Cal Poly administration… we’ll — my advice to Warren Baker — is to stop doing stupid and embarrassing things.

My other Cal Poly & Saudi Arabia Blogs:

Cal Poly & Saudi Arabia Part Deux

Cal Poly… training tomorrow’s terrorists?

Roger Freberg

we all have the power to stand up to wrong and it starts with one person willing to break from the pack

UPDATE! : OoOops.. it’s hitting the fan! Civilrights.org

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Our 5 Cooks Marinara Sauce!

Made from our family to yours!
Have you ever gone somewhere where they SAID had good “Italian food”… and was disappointed?

Unfortunately, cooking with budgetary or time constraints has an effect on the final product. Quality ingredients and adequate preparation always produce a product you will be proud of… besides, making a wonderful Marinara Sauce is so easy… and yes… so American!

Got some time and want to try something fun!

Here’s our recipe!

Roger Freberg

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Developing the Best Recipes!

I learned a lot about cooking from the women in my life…. my mother and especially from my grandmother. “Mimi” loved to cook and in her professional life ran a test kitchen for one of the biggies. Her best advice: “the problem with most recipes is that they have been limited by reducing the time required to make them with unfortunate shortcuts or reducing the quality and variety of ingredients.”

So, if you want to make something memorable for a special occasion and you are ready to throw yourself into making the best… here’s a few ideas on how to approach upgrading your recipes:

Let’s look at a completely Italian-American Invention… “Marinara Sauce”:

Survey the Ingredients lists from various recipes:

All Marinara Recipes look the same or do they?
We should also look at ‘Spaghetti Sauce’ recipes… so I added a few additional items that occur in some of these sauces at the bottom of the list.

As you can see, there are a lot of similarities… but the differences are significant and reflect issues of ‘cost’ and ‘steps.’

Developing the proportions and the steps are next….

Roger Freberg

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looking at the world honestly

Have you ever noticed how many people lie to themselves?… sometimes it’s about little things… and sometimes they evolve into huge whoppers! This is not so much about telling the truth as it is about not facing up to what appears evident.

This is also not about avoiding optimism or losing hope… this is confronting what is… not about confronting what will or might be. It’s about learning from one’s mistakes, recognizing problems and avoiding delusion. Looking at the world honestly — in my humble opinion — allows us to fully enjoy what life and family have to offer. If we can look honestly, then it is easier to talk honestly and expect the same from others.

Let’s just say, I know someone (no one in my immediate family, thank goodness)… that continually re-frames things they have done, said or have written, once they realize that it makes them appear less than they wish to be. It is especially amusing when they dispute their own email… but that is another story.

Unfortunately, one cannot change a pattern of behavior that has become a habit… unless someone really wants to change. Most professionals — for example — know that rehab doesn’t work unless the person involved really wants to change, make new friends and find a new life… which they seldom wish to do.

So, why am I writing this?… because it’s hard to see folks make the same mistakes over and over… all the while being miserable and blaming others for their misfortune. Looking in the mirror is a tough call for anyone… I’ve been there myself.

“Looking at the world honestly” is tough… but it makes making good decisions easier.

Roger Freberg

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Cal Poly & Saudi Arabia Part deux!

I just love Cal Pooooly!Cal Poly appears to be working hard to eliminate local discussion.

After all, Cal Poly is the 800 pound Gorilla in San Luis Obispo County. There’s not a facet of our community that they don’t swing their weight around…. sometimes rather ruthlessly.

Ask any local attorney if they will represent anyone with a grievance or complaint against Cal Poly and they will decline and candidly tell you that they wish to continue practicing. Many folks — like my wife — just take their cases out of county and win at the Federal level.

That says a lot.

Even faculty have come to know it is ‘my way or the highway’ with Cal Poly’s administration.

So it’s also not surprising that local media soft pedaled Cal Poly’s intended arrangement with the government of Saudi Arabia. There are many examples of our local media going against national opinion in order to protect Cal Poly’s sensibilities. Anyone remember how Cal Poly harassed Cal Poly student Steve Hinkle until he won in Federal court?

Few in the local media covered Steve Hinkle at the time… unless supporting the university perspective. By contrast, Cal Poly was ‘savaged’ in the national press. (more on Cal Poly today)
For those few who haven’t heard, Cal Poly wants to set up an engineering program to award Cal Poly degrees to Saudi citizens. The problems are obvious: the students are restricted to male only …and only the ‘right’ Cal Poly Faculty will be able to participate. Oh yes, there is this little problem of who Saudi Arabia is after all. Besides oil, isn’t their next leading export terrorists? — or do we call them ‘insurgents’?

Here’s a few ‘soft’ examples from the local Media:

KSBY 6 Action News

the Tribune Newspaper

Here’s the real story:

UncoveredSLO.com

By the way, my blog “Cal Poly… training tomorrow’s terrorists?” practically stopped for a couple of days thanks to the demand…. even without Google. Isn’t the internet grand?

So… maybe we should ask Cal Poly’s controversial Dean of Engineering Mohammad Noori and President Warren Baker… how , again, is this really benefiting Cal Poly and where did this whacked out idea come from originally?

Roger Freberg

PS. by the way, Cal Poly says they are not breaking any ‘American Laws’, unfortunately, I have heard this before. (I think we have laws based on preventing business with those who discriminate?) It seems that we may need to find our own 2000 lb Gorilla to take on Cal Poly!

2/22 UPDATE:

InsideHigherEd.com – Read about how Cal Poly justifies their actions!