Dartmouth is KING of the Valley

Hello ‘08s!

I came across this little gem and thought it worthy to share – a nod to our little alma mater from the big boys of Silicon Valley. Let your Harvard friends and Stanford siblings read – and weep, because The Daily Beast claims WE are Kings of the Valley – the most powerful college in SV, dominating hundreds of TECH campuses (what up Google? Facebook! cough cough) dotting the Northern California landscape:

http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2010-05-03/techs-29-most-powerful-colleges/

It may shock some of you…but me? One year out in San Francisco - and, admittedly, a bit too much sun, far too many Sunday Fundays, and an overabundance of free-range burgers and farmers markets - and even I’m a budding techie. I can talk circles around the Cloud, and (surprise! surprise!) finally know my Software from my Sa’AS(S). I’ve been to Web 2.0 – not once but twice, swore off Gawker for ValleyWag, dated the guy who developed Facebook’s Quiz Creator (What Disney Princess Are You? – shameful, I know… ) and – yes – even cried tears of joy when Android beat out the i(t-That-Must-Not-Be-Named) in Q1, buzzing, tweeting, bit.lying, and serving up the story to anyone that might share in my singular hatred for Black Turtleneck – the one man I’m convinced will singularly destroy the world – or at least Adobe’s good name.

You might ask how does anyone from Dartmouth hit it big out West? WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE? While I would love to think the answer lies in the kegs, IPAs, and hefeweizens stocking our companies’ fridges (complementing our ability to - smile - "WORK") or our fellow classmates inherent love for the outdoors (it's possible!), I’m pretty sure only the Thayer engineers among us hold the key. And, sadly, as a Creative Writing major– I don’t exactly have premier access.

Still, if any of you are wondering: why trade good old Granite for Silica? The Valley may not be Wall Street or Capitol Hill, but I think its a no-brainer for us graduates: surfing by day, skiing by night; park at noon – beach before 1; bottomless mimosas; boats, boats (and – did I say boats?); BGs as bosses (it happens; they leave the Basement!); casual Fridays – every day; Napa + Sonoma, Sonoma + Napa; cabbies that -"No way man!"-lived in Wheeler in '65 and New Hamp the following year; sushi; Mediterranean weather; and even the possibility of your own claim to fame…

Did I mention I make a living NAMING stuff?
http://deals.venturebeat.com/2010/03/19/ncomputings-numo-chip-could-drive-desktop-computer-costs-to-zero/
(one of my babies)

Hope all is well + enjoy the BEAST!

Stevie B.

DOM Playing at Green Key

Wait. When did Dartmouth become this hipster locale? No more jam bands? No more mainstream, small-budgeted Programming Board? No more Talib Kweli, OAR, Vanessa Carlton, Third Eye Blind, etc.? It's DOM now? I feel old. And out of touch.

TEDxDartmouth-Paul Whalen: The Uncertainty of it All: Brain Lessons for ...

TED Talks, you are the bomb-dot-com. Listening to TED is sort of like going to a 10A, except on average, the lectures are about 20 minutes long. And you get to choose the subject. Plus if you don't like the video, you can click on a new one(kind of like MTV's Next). And you can sort the videos by most watched, most emailed, etc. - so you can be lazy if you don't want to spend the time searching. Also if you fall asleep to it (like I normally do since I listen to most of the talks at night), no one will test you on what you missed. Win - win!

If you've never been to TED, it's definitely worth following regularly for more riveting talks by remarkable people. Check out a video recently filmed at Dartmouth above or browse the site to choose your own. May I recommend Adora Svitak: What adults can learn from kids or Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity.

"Just took a wrong turn somewhere..."

Oh moose, how'd you end up here?

via Stevie's gchat status.