I hope that I am preaching to the choir here, but do not be misled by the rosy reports of Iraq that are coming out.

On Wednesday, the U.S. News & World Report website noted: “The news that the U.S. death toll in Iraq for July, at 73, is the lowest in eight months spurred several news organizations to present a somewhat optimistic view of the situation in Iraq. The consensus in the coverage appears to be that things are improving militarily, even as the political side of the equation remains troubling.”

Hadi Mizban / AP
(The daughter of Jalil Shaalan, a security guard at a Baghdad school, reacts after her father is gunned down by unknown shooters)

The low death toll that U.S. News & World Report cites is because of a change in US military strategy, not a change on the ground. The "new strategy" for the military is a repeat of the invasion: a return to air raids, which kill far more innocent civilians than militants.

Iraqis are still suffering the consequences of the first wave of air raids back in 2003- many have lost children, siblings or parents, and many of those who survived have lost arms or legs. Since the invasion began, over 68,000 Iraqi civilians have lost their lives, and that is a conservative estimate.

On July 17, my two best friends Andy and Salley (not pictured above) came to visit me from the United States. It was the culmination of a plot we hatched back at Johns Hopkins University, where the three of us started our Freshman years in 1996. I don't remember this exactly, but Andy reminded me about the first time we met. Apparently, I stopped by his open doorway with, now get this, a plate of brownies which my Mother had baked. Needless to say, I never did succeed in developing that 'bad boy' mystique which worked so well for many of my male classmates. Then again, neither did Andy. I suppose that's why we hit it off right away.

Brad Stone, a reporter for The New York Times, has uncovered the identity of The Fake Steve Jobs: it's Daniel Lyons, a senior editor at Forbes magazine.

“I’m stunned that it’s taken this long,” said Mr. Lyons, 46, when a reporter interrupted his vacation in Maine on Sunday to ask him about Fake Steve. “I have not been that good at keeping it a secret. I’ve been sort of waiting for this call for months.”

Back in character, Fake Steve Jobs had some unkind words for Brad Stone:

If anyone can think of a cool way to use the name "Brad Stone" (all or part) as a verb, let me know. Maybe this:

brad, v.i.:

1. To bust a fellow filthy hack without mercy and spoil the fun for everyone, in a quest for personal aggrandizement.
2. To urinate in a pool.

Even better, I thought, was the punch-in-the-gut he reserved for bloggers: "One bright side is that at least I was busted by the Times and not Valleywag. I really, really enjoyed seeing those guys keep guessing wrong. For six months Dr. Evil and Mr. Bigglesworth put their big brains together and couldn't come up with the answer. Guy from the Times did it in a week. So much for the trope about smarty-pants bloggers disrupting old media. Brilliant."

Fake Steve, or rather Daniel Lyons, will be releasing a book in October entitled, Options: The Secret Life of Steve Jobs, a Parody, and soon his blog will be moved to Forbes.com. Anyone who has followed Fake Steve's writings, however, will wonder whether or not he can be so... shall we say... honest in the future about his thoughts on Apple and Silicon Valley. Will he have to tone it down, or will Forbes embrace the character in full?

With his name and that of his magazine at stake, Daniel Lyons will probably have to be more cautious about what he says. But that's unfortunate, because the snarkiness and ridicule was guilty pleasure, even when bloggers like us or the "freetards" of the open source movement are the targets. It was... irresponsible, I guess you could say, and correspondingly so refreshing.

BTW: Now that we know who he is, let's invite Mr. Lyons to campus. Word.

So, I've been stopped out for two quarters now, and I'm wondering if I'll come back.

Here's my NYTimes Essay Contest submission.

"Should I Finish the Remaining Year?" a self-righteous, overly-critical, grandiose exploration of the college experience's alignment with the corporation and global economy, by Bradley Heinz, in response to the challenge set forth by Rick Perlstein for the New York Times.

------------------

How exciting! Encouragement and intellectual space provided by a prestigious publication for me to vent about "the college experience," or "finding myself" – three years of my life in an institution that has disappointed me. Instead of blossoming into a renaissance man exposed to the ideas and possibilities of the world, some promise of college I must have imagined, I feel as though I've been reduced to a specialized component of a larger society whose goal is to innovate, produce, consume, repeat. As I write here at this sidewalk café in San Francisco, having spent my summer couch-surfing and dumpster-diving as an amateur anthropologist and cultural critic, I wonder if I should drop out of Stanford.

Normally I wouldn’t write about my own startup on the Stanford blog. But I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw how fast and powerful just one blog was in spreading the word about Homeslyce, now servicing students starting college.

As you can see from the graph on the right, the number of unique users and page views shot up exponentially in just three days.

So I thought I’d write and share some things I saw and learned with my entrepreneurial home.

I thought this was pretty cool: all but two of the 2008 Democratic presidential hopefuls appeared one-by-one at an event hosted by the Human Rights Campaign and televised by Logo to discuss their views on issues affecting the gay community. First of all, it's cool that these candidates showed up. Even cooler was that, with the exception of Barack Obama (who seemed to be straining), most of the candidates really seemed to embrace the LGBT community, and the discussions came off as candid and intimate. The chat with Mike Gravel and his wholehearted acceptance of homosexuality was a special treat, simply given the generation he hails from.

Also, I hate to sound promotional, but I keep walking away from watching Hillary Clinton talk feeling really impressed and almost reassured by her command of the issues. LGBT issues seem to be no exception, and I found her ability to speak frankly and with empathy on the politics of homosexuality, in short, moving. Check out this scene with Melissa Etheridge:

For more, watch more of the debate, or read the Washington Post's coverage.

In my role on staff at the university, I'm constantly on the lookout for how Stanford students and faculty are making waves in the blogosphere. As it so happens, a Stanford senior honors thesis by Jonathan Gibbs ('07) recently popped up on TrueHoop -- which is not only my favorite basketball blog, but may well be my favorite blog altogether.

In the wake of the Tim Donaghy NBA referee scandal, Gibbs' honors thesis (Point Shaving in the NBA: An Economic Analysis of the National Basketball Association's Point Spread Betting Market) has become the buzz of the basketball and Freakonomics blogging communities. TrueHoop has had multiple posts on Gibbs' work, which include an interview with Gibbs and Prof. Roger Noll chiming in as well. The thesis also makes a cameo on the widely-read Freakonomics blog. The TrueHoop postings are a great read, and I highly recommend them beginning with this one.

One thing I find quite interesting is a general lack of faith displayed toward undergraduate scholarship. In his initial posting on TrueHoop, Henry Abbott captures the essence of this attitude: "Hold the phone: An undergraduate? Do we really have to listen to this?"

I wonder if they knew.

So, I'm back in Beijing now after a ten-day trip to the southwestern cities of Dali (Yunnan) and Chengdu (Sichuan). I attended a week long conference called Crossing Borders and Paradigms: Anthropology of Southwest China Reconsidered. The conference was co-sponsored by the Southwest University for Nationalities, Beijing University, and the Central University of Nationalities, and gave me my first opportunity to present an academic paper completely in Chinese. It went well, the highlight for me being when one of the members of the 1954 Ethnic Classification team (the focus of my dissertation and forthcoming book) chimed in at the end of my talk and announced to the whole room, in essence, "He's right." Needless to say, I "celebrated" at the bar that night. Special thanks goes to Stevan Harrell who, when his schedule did not permit him to attend, passed my name along to the conference organizers.

This video clip speaks for itself, so I'll just let you watch it. Courtesy of MoveOn.org

I came across this graph showing where energy is used in an average American home:

The Heating and Cooling costs (and CO2 emissions) are clearly the most substantial portion of household energy use. Homeowners who wish to reduce their emissions, therefore, should start here. Fortunately, a fairly easy solution exists for individuals who are designing and building their own home: Passive Solar Design

Passive solar design is based on two main principles: the tilting of the earth on its axis, and utilizing thermal mass to maintain an ideal temperature in the house.

According to a press release leaked at IvyGate and various other college-admission-related sites, the following is the USNews rankings for universities for next year.

1. Princeton University (NJ)
2. Harvard University (MA)
3. Yale University (CT)
4. Stanford University (CA)
5. California Institute of Technology
University of Pennsylvania
7. Massachusetts Inst. Of Technology
8. Duke University (NC)
9. Columbia University (NY)
University of Chicago
11. Dartmouth College (NH)
12. Cornell University (NY)
Washington University in St. Louis
14. Brown University (RI)
Johns Hopkins University (MD)
Northwestern University (IL)
...and so on.

Stanford was tied for fourth with Caltech and MIT last year, and now it's in fourth by itself. Cal is 21 for those of you who care (I don't).

A few key points:
(1) Stanford students tend to be highly anti-institutional with regard to rankings, acting as if they do not matter. But it's hard to underestimate just how important USNews rankings are for when students choose colleges. It's interesting that students will tend to choose Stanford over all schools except Harvard, Yale and MIT. It roughly splits with Princeton, according to "A Revealed Preference Ranking of U.S. Colleges and Universities." (It's a statistical paper, link here). It's important that Stanford continues to compete for the very best students--the ones that also get into Harvard, or Princeton, or whatever. Harvard at the moment dominates what one calls the "cross-admits," and of students getting into both Harvard and Yale, 86% go to Harvard. Wow.

(2) There's an interesting chicken-and-egg problem with rankings. The rankings shape public perceptions, and those perceptions then come back and shape the rankings, and so on. The public would find it hard to believe that, say, Penn is #1, but having Harvard or Princeton at #1 reinforces the public's idea. A Gallup poll conducted a couple of years ago had Stanford tied for third, behind Harvard and Yale, but second amongst the "highly educated," interestingly.

(3) The rankings are mostly irrelevant for those already in college, but for high school students picking a school, they certainly do matter--witness the hundreds of thousands of copies of the magazine sold every year. Students want to go to the best, most prestigious school possible. The rankings help shape those perceptions. That's why most people pick Harvard, the undisputed king of the castle when it comes to attracting top high school students. Is Harvard objectively better than other schools? Not really, but there has to be a reason why students want to go there so badly.

(4) According to an article in the Stanford Review printed last year, Stanford was ranked higher than it is now. It's unclear why, but Stanford's SAT profile is slightly lower than H and P, has more athletes (with indeterminate effect), and has slightly less in the top 10% of the class. But the most problematic measure is "alumni giving rate." Stanford has always had a weaker alumni community than Princeton--compare 34% to 61%. But Stanford fund raised $911 million, THREE HUNDRED MILLION more than any other school (Harvard was second). Do you think President Hennessy cares if alumni donate if they're breaking fundraising records anyway? Methinks not!

(5) While Stanford dominates the West Coast, they need to do a much better job competing on the East Coast.

My China kit

With less than two weeks before I return home from Peking University, it's time I finally offered some scattered thoughts on two of my favorite films of all time, two films which have kept this lonely scholar company during his solo foray: Pootie Tang and Etre et Avoir (To Be and to to Have). Released in 2001 and 2002, respectively, these two movies have a great deal more in common than one would expect from their dust jacket precis. The first sentences of each tells us everything, and nothing, all at once.

PT: "Women can't resist him. Evil can't withstand him..."
EeA: "All over France, there are still examples of what are known as 'single-class schools'..."

Despite these apparent differences, there is a fundamental commonality which connects them. Allow me if you will...

To be ever vigilant for spammers.

Earlier this year, the Unofficial Stanford Blog was hit by serial spammers, shamelessly promoting their websites and increasing their search rankings instead of contributing to a healthy conversation. Luckily, the Blog took action and instituted a mechanism to help deter such automated spamming by requiring a commenter to type in a specified letter before submitting.

However, spam still gets through by human spammers and do so in a subtle -and insidious- way. These spammers put links in their names and in their comments, often embedded in what would appear to be a legitimate comment. Though, we bloggers can edit and filter comments, many of us do not always catch the spam that smears our entries.

Here's an example of a comment (in edit mode) and what to look for:

Notice the link that's written into the code that has nothing to do with anything. Make sure to edit out all links that seem suspicious. Sometimes spammers will make the link seem relevant to the entry but really are just trying to pimp our their websites.

Also, notice the box on the right hand side labeled URL. Make sure there's nothing there. Spammers will put their website address there and will turn their name into a link.

In short, please be vigilant and keep spammers from spoiling the intellectually nutritious forum we enjoy

This video, created by the director of “Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price,” shows the propaganda that was used, by all major news media, to convince the American people that war with Iraq was necessary for our national security. This has, of course, proven to be false. Iraq had no links to al-Qaeda (notice the "had" because now they DO) and Iraq had no WMDs.

However, now Fox News is at it again, this time trying to provoke an attack on Iran.
Sign the petition- don't let Fox News drag us into war again- and send a message to the other news stations to stand their ground and report the truth, not the Fox-news propaganda.

I am not a movie buff. Or, at least, I didn't used to be. Then, I decided to draw with a guy that this is, was, and always will be obsessed with film. Whether it's dreaming in the unique worlds of Michel Gondry or exalting the narrative genius of a Wallace and Gromit short, Jack's love of movies makes Leonard Maltin seem like a first year film student. And, clearly, it has rubbed off on me, for I have found a new obsession: The Stanford Theatre.

My love affair with this unique venue started, as most good things do, on a whim. I was taking a stroll down University, having just left campus on a Saturday afternoon around 3:30. Upon seeing a line outside the theater, my eyes looked up to find Dail "M" for Murder (1954) and Sabrina (1954) on the marquee. Having never seen either, but a fan of both Hitchcock and Hepburn, and with no plans for the evening, I decided to seize the opportunity and duck in for an old film. Much to my (unemployed) pleasure, I immediately found out on of the theater's greatest attributes: it's affordable! With a $7 ticket granting admission to both films and cheap concessions (popcorn, a drink, and candy all for under $5), this is easily the cheapest romantic date around (and about the only affordable thing to do on University!).

Beyond that, the theater itself is absolutely stunning, with comfortable seats, a balcony view, and even live organ music before and after the 7:30 showing. Add in a diverse mix of patrons and the nostalgic posters and cinema paraphernalia on display in the lobby, and you've got one of the move unique and delightful movie-going experiences this side of Cannes.

Just today, I was back for more with the no-so-politically-correct The Jungle Princess (1936) and monster-classic Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954), before which the organist played Bach's eerie "Tocatta and Fugue." I'm not quite sure how long I'll keep up my old movie obsession, but one thing's for sure: I now know where to get my fix.

THIS WEEKEND be sure to catch Citizen Kane (1941) at 3:35 and 7:30 followed by The Maltese Falcon (1941) at 5:20 and 9:00. Also, remember that this Saturday and Sunday is the Palo Alto Festival of the Arts (10:00am to 6:00pm), which will take over University Avenue in a display of art, wine, and music. It should be very fun.

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"Campus Center Bike Circles" -- Roundabouts to regulate bike traffic.

Coming home

On Friday, my two-month stay here in China comes to a close, and I return home to San Francisco and Stanford. With a few minutes here and there between packing, going away dinners, and a magical trip to the post office (nothing like shipping 4,000 RMB worth of books), I thought I'd reflect on my present and past trips to the PRC. Here are roughly forty of the things I love most about living and working in China. (There is no order whatsover to this list, mind you.)

玉米冰淇淋: After eating corn ice cream for the first time, one is inclined to raise one's skinny fists towards the heavens and ask, "What else have You been hiding from me?"

"对对对对对对对..." Foreigners love to agree in China, because it allows us to use the machine gun-like expression "Dui dui dui dui dui dui dui..." (Translation: "Correct, correct, correct, correct, correct, correct..."). I've had entire conversations in which these were the only sounds I uttered.

“厕所里放挂钟－有始有终”: Jokes in other languages are often funnier than jokes in your mother tongue. I think this stems from two seeds. First, when you "get" a joke in Chinese, you feel proud. Not only did you have to understand the meaning of the words, but you had to do so rapidly. The sound of one's own honest, heartfelt laughter doubles as a badge of honor. Secondly, each language is equipped with its own unique ways of crafting jokes. In Chinese, for example, the multiplicity of homophonic characters allows for a whole host of double entendres, my favorite of which is 厕所里放挂钟－有始有终 (rather than translating, I'll let you conduct your own search).

柚子: My single favorite thing about living in Chengdu was probably Chinese grapefruit (youzi). These behemoths are something like three times the size of grapefuits back home, not to mention half as sour and twice as sweet. Many a night did I dine on the flesh of youzi.

"那个那个那个那个..." As with unique forms of jokes, each language has it own unique forms of stuttering as well. I still remember learning 那个那个那个那个... ("That, that, that, that, that...) in 1998. I've been abusing it ever since.

"It just looks like a crescent": Some of the best Chinese-English signs involve typos or awkward phrasings. In other cases, their brilliance is far more subtle. I encountered a new favorite at Mingshashan and the Crescent Lake, just outside of Dunhuang, Gansu. In explaining the origins of the name Crescent Lake, the English sign foregoes all poetry and gets right to the point: "It just looks like a crescent."

Hello all!

We at The Unofficial Stanford Blog want to welcome you to September 2007 because it marks the beginning of some exciting changes for us. Want to know more? Here we go:

We are so happy to see everybody post to this blog and read it as much as they do. Please continue to do so! As the school year resumes, don't forget to point your friends toward us as a place for campus discussion unlike any other. For example, who else will be streaming live events on the web (with Ustream.tv) or posting immediate dialogue on campus events as they happen? Just us at the blog!

If you are a Stanford community member (student or otherwise), we wanted to remind you that positions are still open to help lead the blog -- and we welcome your help. If you're particularly interested in the arts or sports, or if you're a typepad and/or wordpress expert, please drop us a line (blogforstanford at gmail dot com). We'd love your help in supporting and guiding our blogging community.

Finally, we are moving to a new subdomain (location) on the Stanford Web. Our new address will be tusb.stanford.edu starting September 15, and all of our previous content will be coming with us. Along with our new address (update your bookmarks!) we are planning redesigns for parts of the blog. For example, check out our new logo at the top of this post! We will be making newer and better changes as we can, and we are considering a switch from Movable Type to Word Press.

You can always reach us at blogforstanford at gmail dot com and we would love for you to tell us what you think about our new changes.

We will be out in force at the Activities Fair on the first Friday of classes, signing up new bloggers and getting out the word about our group. We can't wait to see you there.

Marissa Mayer is a key figure at Google and has much influence in the design, development, and usability of Google products we use every day, such as search and Gmail.

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When we asked what she thinks about each morning, Marissa said, "I think about the people here [at Google] and how great they are... The people here inspire me to such a level."

Marissa plays a pivotal role in the development and launch of key Google products and serves as a key advisor to many of Google's new talents. As the 20th hire (and the first female hire), she has and continues to set deep footprints in products such as Gmail and Google Desktop. Her demonstrated passion for consumer products and her engagement with the people she works with have made her one of the most influential figures in Silicon Valley. She has been written about in multiple publications, including Newsweek, Fortune, and Fast Company.

In this interview, Marissa talks about Google's vision for search, ads, and apps, and personal experiences and lessons. Also find out how she identifies a great product during her "office hours", which Google application spawned AdSense (a core multi-billion dollar business), and which San Francisco bakery she co-owns.

Many thanks to the Googlers who contributed to this interview. We will have the video version of this interview up shortly.

- Min Liu and Julio of iinnovate