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Lost bag! Reward if found! Returned! But it’s a fake! Finally someone took the advice to GYOFB. But it’s a fake! Students at CUNY’s Hunter College in a class sponsored by the International Anticounterfeiting Coalition produced the blog and related guerrilla marketing activities related to counterfeiting last spring. But “while a television viewer is aware that he or she is watching advertising, those viewing the blog or her posters at Hunter thought they were learning about the experiences of a real student — not a class project crafted by an industry association (that was sufficiently proud to boast about it).” Reports Inside Higher Ed.

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Some wonder about a college using some students to fool other students. Others are concerned about the circumstances of the course itself. It was created without any curricular review. The professor who taught it says that he was pressured to do so even though he has no expertise in advertising or public relations (he teaches computer graphics) and had ethical qualms about the course.

Further, the professor — and other professors who have investigated the circumstances of the course — maintain that the professor was required to teach only one side of the issue, had to accept industry officials watching him teach, and had little clout to fight back since he didn’t (and still doesn’t) have tenure.

The department chair — designated by Hunter as the only person to speak officially about the course — at first said that this was “a Hunter matter” and didn’t warrant outside attention. But he then said that everyone involved had free choice to participate or not, and that there were no academic freedom issues raised by the arrangement. He did acknowledge, however, that the department had already adopted at least one reform in the wake of the experience: Any other new “sponsored” courses will have to be reviewed by a curriculum committee before they can be taught.

Would you trust any education brought to you this way?

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An airliner caught by winds of more than 150 mph as it tried to land during a storm grazed its wingtip on the runway before the pilot wrestled it back off the ground.

The incident happened on Saturday as the Lufthansa Airbus A320, with 131 passengers on board, approached Hamburg airport on a flight from Munich.

An airline spokesman said the plane was rocked by wind clocked at 155 mph as it tried to land.

The left wing grazed the runway for a moment, but the pilot was able to stabilise the aircraft and take off again in what the spokesman called an “absolutely professional manoeuvre.”

The plane landed safely shortly afterward on its second attempt.

It turns out there’s also a high quality picture:

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United Technologies Corp. said Sunday it has made an offer to buy Diebold Inc. for $2.63 billion.

United Technologies, parent company of jet engine-maker Pratt & Whitney, Otis elevator and Sikorsky Aircraft, said it made the unsolicited offer to Diebold on Friday after trying to negotiate a deal for two years.

[..]

James Geisler, vice president of finance of United Technologies, said the company announced the offer Sunday night because executives believe their offer is “so compelling we thought shareholders should know about it.”

And the shareholders, when polled, responded 24% in favor, 25% against, and 51% Republican.

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“Why aren’t we attacking him?” Bill Clinton asked at a high-level staff meeting Dec. 1 at the Clintons’ Washington home, according to people familiar with events. With aides sitting around the dining room table, Bill Clinton said it was time to get more aggressive with Obama.

The following day, in Iowa, Hillary Clinton called a news conference to execute the strategy of questioning Obama’s character. “Now the fun part starts,” she said.

Smearing opponents is fun? Is that the kind of President you want?

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Barack Obama Democrat presidential candidate asked the boxers vs briefs question Yup, he’s not even the Democratic nominee for president yet, but Sen. Barack Obama got the boxers vs. briefs question from Us magazine. Really old people will remember that way back in 1992, MTV asked Bill Clinton the same question and he said boxers.

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And here’s the surprising answer the candidate gave in this day and age: “I don’t answer those humiliating questions.”

Good for him. Good for him. Some people will vote for Obama just because of that dignified reply.

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I was bored last night, and I was reading a series of 419 scam letters for my own amusement. After an hour or so, I began to realize certain similarities between the Nigerian pitches and the recruiting tactics used by the Church of Scientology.

Go read it!

[In Texas:]

An interesting moment came when he was asked a question about LGBT rights and delivered an answer that seemed to suit the questioner, listing the various attributes — race, gender, etc. — that shouldn’t trigger discrimination, to successive cheers. When he came to saying that gays and lesbians deserve equality, though, the crowd fell silent.

So he took a different tack:

“Now I’m a Christian, and I praise Jesus every Sunday,” he said, to a sudden wave of noisy applause and cheers.

“I hear people saying things that I don’t think are very Christian with respect to people who are gay and lesbian,” he said, and the crowd seemed to come along with him this time.