WHAT IS THE HARDEST UNIVERSITY IN THE WORLD, AND WHY?

  From Worldometer (new  COVID-19 deaths yesterday):

        DAY  USA  WORLD   Brazil    India    South Africa

June     9    1093     4732        1185        246       82

July    22     1205     7128        1293      1120      572

Aug    12     1504     6556        1242       835      130

Sept     9     1208      6222       1136      1168       82

Oct     21     1225      6849         571       703       85

Nov    25     2304    12025        620         518      118

Dec    30      3880    14748      1224        299      465

Jan     14     4142    15512       1151        189      712              

Feb      3       4005    14265       1209       107      398

          25       2414    10578        1582       119      144

Mar     2        1989     9490        1726        110      194

          17        1289     9736        2736       171       74

          24          936   10206        3158       277       55

          25        1405   10470        2244       249     121

          26        1165   10331        2639        257    163

          30          873   10854        3668        355      78

Summary:  There is a fourth wave beginning to show in Europe, South America and perhaps India.  U.S. new cases are staying up there, yesterday 62,459, compared to 86,704 for Brazil and 53,158 for India.

This was a very long time ago when I started college, but beginning freshmen at many state universities were spooked by the following:

The dean addressing an incoming class tells them: “Look to your left and then to your right, and three years from now, only one of you will still be here.”  

This was true then for schools like the University of California at Berkeley.  Luckily, this was not the case for Stanford, and probably not so today for most campuses.  But to the question above, Berkeley was easier to get into, but was more difficult from which to graduate.  Which one is harder?

I saw the question at the top in Quora, and am somewhat familiar with the query because I've had several posts on this general subject.  Okinawa, for example, has a unique and top-rated graduate program, the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology.  There are these exceptional campuses throughout the world dedicated to trying to be the best.  They are difficult to get into, plus challenging when you get there.

Four years ago I wrote on WHICH IS THE HARDEST UNIVERSITY TO GET ACCEPTED?  I showed the following graphic:

Nothing much has changed, for U.S, News and World Report showed the following 2019 acceptance rate:

• Stanford, 4%
• Columbia, 5%
• Curtis Institute of Music, 5%
• Harvard, 5%
• CalTech, 6%
• Princeton, 6%

#9 was Alice Lloyd College with 7%, #15 Juilliard School 8%, #19 College of Ozarks 9%, #40 Jarvis Christian College 14%.    Also, #51 Notre Dame 16% and #53 University of California at Berkeley 17%.  In other words, some schools specialize in something like music, and swarms of talented students apply.  I'd would hate to now be in high school trying to get into any "best" school.

Responses to that question at the top probed deeper, and here is one, sort of indicative of why Curtis and Alice Lloyd sit among the top in the USA:

Evelyn Haley

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June 15, 2017

Studied Economics at Stanford University (Graduated 2019)

What is the hardest university in the world and why?

Not what you expect. Without a doubt, Harvard, Stanford, and MIT are some of the hardest universities to get into – in terms of both acceptance rate and quality of applicants. But are they the hardest? I would dispute that. Even if they are arguably the three most prestigious universities in the world, there are universities that are just as hard – if not harder to get into.

Two such universities (which I happen to have good knowledge about due to friends attending) are NYU Abu Dhabi and Deep Springs College.

NYU Abu Dhabi

(3.65% acceptance rate--SAT median 1510 out of 1600)

NYU Abu Dhabi students have extremely high test scores, with a median score of a 33 on the ACT, and 1510 out of 1600 on the SAT. But while these scores are high, the real reason its its selectivity lies in its diversity. NYU Abu Dhabi’s mission is to create the most diverse university in the world for future “global leaders”. This is shown by the class of 2020 hailing from 76 countries and 42% speaking three or more languages. There are only 323 students in the class of 2020, and these students are the cream of the crop of their respective countries. In addition, NYU Abu Dhabi places a focus on a student’s “X-factor” - or what separates a student from the crowd (do they seem like they would make a good global leader?). While high test scores are great, alone they won’t get you accepted.

Average starting salary of graduates:  $90,000/year.

Deep Springs College

(6% - 8.3% acceptance rate)

Manual farm labor in the middle of the desert in California might not sound like an elite college experience but that is exactly what Deep Springs College is. Deep Springs is a 2-year college which accepts an average incoming class of 14 students (you read that right), who tend to be some of the most talented and creative individuals.

Even though Deep Springs College is located on a ranch, farm work is more of a necessary extracurricular of students (taking about 20 hours per week). Curriculum is highly individualized. Students select and hire their own professors (generally 8 or 9), and studying is intense – classes can go into the night with discussions around a campfire.

How successful are its graduates? Upon completing the 2-year curriculum, Deep Springs students are pretty much accepted by any college they choose– Harvard, Stanford, MIT…graduates are almost guaranteed a transfer into any top school. Why? Deep Springs has a record of producing great leaders. Despite having only around 1,000 alumni Deep Springs has produced many prominent alumni (over 50 on Wikipedia) which include two MacArthur (the “genius grant”) recipients, two Pulitzer Prize winners, and one Emmy award winner.

Anyone thinking Deep Springs is a shortcut to get into Harvard would be sadly mistaken though. Admission is likely more difficult (high quality applicant pool).

On a personal note, one of my best friends was accepted to both Harvard and Stanford (now attending), but was rejected at Deep Springs.

Another Quora response said the following;

1. Indian Institute of Technology (the coveted IITs), every year around 10–15 lakh(1.5 million) students appear for engineering entrance examination in India known as JEE mains(Joint Entrance Examination), out of which around 1.5 lakhs (150K) are selected for JEE advanced, out of which around 10k to 15k are finally selected for the prestigious seat in the renowned IITs, do the math - (15k/1.5M) * 100 = 1% ( in highly optimistic conditions).  There are 16 IITs in the country.
2. Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (Post graduate entrance examination), this exam is conducted for Master's degree in the field of engineering for all the engineering colleges in India, conducted jointly by IITs and IISc (Indian Institute of Sciences). The same examination is used for PSU(Public Sector Unit) jobs in the country. Students from all engineering branches appear for this Examination, I will give you a hint about the scenario for Computer Science graduates, around 2.3 Lakhs(230K) students appear, out of which around 300–400 students finally make it to IITs, the acceptance ratio - (400/230k) * 100 = 0.17% , while the acceptance ratio of IISc is far lesser, around (50/230k) = 0.02%.

Conditions are similar in China, for the two top universities, Peking and Tsinghua, had an acceptance rate of 0.91% in 2017.

You would think that the University of Tokyo would be impossibly exclusive.  But admittance is 20%.  Why?  Students don't bother to apply unless they are truly outstanding.  Must have something to do with the culture.

National University of Singapore is the best in the country, and the acceptance rate is 25%.  Nanyang Technological University is outstanding, but the rate is 36%.  Same reason as Japan, I guess.

Similarly, Seoul National University is top rated in South Korea, but their acceptance rate is said to be 10-20%, and 20% for international applicants.  Oxford and Cambridge?  Around 16%.  China and India you can almost imagine why, because of the large population, but why are these top U.S. universities so competitive relative to other countries in the Orient and the UK?

Thus, if you live in India and China and want to improve your life by going to a top university...lots  of luck.  Many of their motivated graduates end up migrating to the USA.  This is why they do so well.  They are enterprising and really smart.  We end up with the best of the best.  Limit immigration?  Find a way to get more!

Finally, there is the additional matter of Return on Investment:

I haven't seen a survey that combines acceptance rate, difficulty of the coursework to actually graduate and return on investment.  So what is the hardest university in the world, and why?  Don't know.

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FOUR REMARKABLE PEOPLE

The first remarkable person, one you know, is Queen Elizabeth II.  Next year will mean 70 years as the reigning monarch, at the age of 95.  She is Queen to the UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica and Barbados.  #2 in length is Hassanai Bolkiah of Brunei...53 years  They are prepared:

I'm in the midst of planning three around the world trips.  Safety and security dominate my list of absolute needs.  I will avoid the summer heat of Dubai by walking through their World Expo in December.  I'm a bit concerned about the Buenos Aires World Expo because South American is just not a safe place these days.  I live in a cocoon.

Then there is Sir Ranulph Fiennes.  Where do I start?

• In 1984 the Guinness Book of World Records named him as the world's greatest living explorer.
• To begin:
• His father died four months before Ranulph was born in the UK during World War II.  He inherited dad's baronetcy at birth.
• Grew up in South Africa but returned home to graduate from Eton College.
• Had an outstanding, but difficult, military life.
• 
  Married his childhood sweetheart Ginny in 1970.  They raised cattle and sheep.  She passed away in 2004.
• At the age of 62 in 2005 he married a 38-year old horse-trainer, and he got his first child the following year, a daughter.
• Between 1979 and 1982 he and two others went around the world using surface transportation only, but this was around the polar axis, crossing both the North and South Poles.  No one before or since has done this.
• Was the first to make a complete Northwest passage using a Boston Whaler in 1981.

• 
  In 
• 1992 found the lost city of Iram in Oman, also called Atlantis of the Sands.
• 1993 he and Mike Stroud became the first to cross the Antarctic unsupported.  Took 93 days.
• He was knighted that year.
• 2000 attempted to walk solo and unsupported to the North Pole, but failed.
• suffered severe frostbite
• cut off his fingers himself with an electric saw
• 
  After a heart attack and undergoing a double heart bypass, four months later joined Mike Stroud (on the right) to in 2003 complete seven marathons in seven days on seven continents.  
• All for the British Heart Foundation.
• Was told by his doctor not to exceed 130 beats/minute, but forgot to pack his heart monitor (you think maybe he could have bought another one?) and lived.

• 
  Beginning in 2005 failed to become the oldest Brit to climb Mount Everest...because of a continuing heart problem.
• In 2008 tried again, and got within 1300 feet of the summit, but had to turn back because of the weather.
• However, in 2009 he succeeded.
• He has acrophobia, a fear of heights.
• Wrote 24 books.

Chow Yun Fat lives a simple life.  More than a quarter century ago, the Los Angeles Times already named him as the coolest actor in the world.  Then he went on to act in Anna and the King, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Pirates of the Caribbean, and will soon star in his 100th film.

He uses public transit and lives humbly, seen eating at Hong Kong food stalls.  Uses the same 17-year old Nokia flip phone.  Is in some trouble with the Chinese government for supporting the Umbrella Movement and more recent Hong Kong protests.  He donated the proceedings of his photography book published by Louis Vuitton to the Sichuan earthquake victims.  Plans to give away the bulk of what will probably be a billion dollars when he dies.  

The next two you probably never heard of before:  Laurent Duvernay-Tardiff and Frank "Rocky" Fiegel.  Let me start with Laurent, who is an offensive lineman for the Kansas City Chiefs.

In February of 2020 he was part of the Super Bowl victory.  Went home to Canada, but had to spend 14 days in quarantine because of his contacts.  He thought...didn't have three kids, saw his medical school friends having a tough time...so he inquired if he could help.  Turns out that he is a doctor, but is not yet licensed to practice.  Joined the care ranks in Quebec, changed masks 20 times/day while somewhat fearing for his life.  He said the Chiefs were amazingly supportive and encouraged him to go with his feelings.  Not much of a salary, a grueling life and Kansas City lost the Super Bowl without him.  He'll be back to play this coming season because he says he has 40 more years after that to be a doctor, specifically, an emergency room physician.

Ever see this photo before?

Surely looks like Popeye the Sailor Man.  Samuel Lerner's song from 1934.  As was sent to me:

His real name was Frank "Rocky" Fiegel. He was born in 1868 in Poland and, as a child, immigrated to the United States with his parents, who settled down in a small town in Illinois. As a young man, Rocky went to sea. After a 20 year career as a sailor in the Merchant Marines, Fiegel retired. He was later hired by Wiebusch's Tavern in the city of Chester, Illinois as a ‘Bouncer’ to maintain order in the rowdy bar. 

The creator of Popeye, Elzie Crisler Segar, grew up in Chester and, as a young man, met Rocky at the tavern and would sit for hours listening to the old sailor’s amazing ‘sea’ stories.’ Years later, Segar became a cartoonist and developed a comic strip called ‘Thimble Theater.’ He honoured Fiegel him by asking if he could model his new comic strip character, ‘Popeye the Sailor Man,’ after him. Naturally Fiegel was flattered and agreed.

Segar claimed that ‘Olive Oyl,’ along with other characters, was also loosely based on an actual person. She was Dora Paskel, owner of a small grocery store in Chester. She apparently actually looked much like the Olive Oyl character in his comics. He claimed she even dressed much the same way. 

Through the years, Segar kept in touch with Rocky and always helped him with money; giving him a small percentage of what he earned from his ‘Popeye’ illustrations. 

Something did not look right to me.  I've more and more seen these made up viral videos.  Had to check out this Rocky guy.  Snopes only partially agreed to the tale, saying that the photo was a fake (the one used is of an anonymous British sailor aboard the HMS Rodney in 1940), Rocky was not a sailor and did not know about he being used as the model until the year Segar passed away.  Here is a real photo of Frank Rocky Fiegel.  So I changed my title from FIVE to FOUR REMARKABLE PEOPLE.

I failed to mention yesterday that the Dow Jones Industrial Average again broke its all-time record, increasing 100 to 33,171.  Yet you got to be concerned that this pandemic a century after the Spanish Flu might foreshadow something similar to 1929 and the Great Depression.  The market seems to be losing control of itself.

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I'M A SUCKER FOR ALIEN FILMS

I've previously expressed my views on the George Floyd case, which began today in Minneapolis.  All kinds of Black Lives Matter and police justice issues at stake.  Only police officer Derek Chauvin on trial.  The defense will prove that Floyd was on fentanyl and methamphetamine, had underlying health conditions and was a convicted criminal.  Historically, jurors usually lean in the direction of the police.  However, the times have changed.  The city of Minneapolis has already agred to pay the Floyd family $27 million.  While live on news channels, the case will last another month.

Here is one news item that, finally, is appearing to be making headway:

• The Biden administration is developing digital “vaccine passports,” The Washington Post reported.

The Ever Given is free and again sailing through the Suez Canal.  Who is to blame?  Weather?  This container ship is Panama-flagged, Japanese-owned and Taiwan-operated.

Are you a cancer victim of the weedkiller Roundup?  Here's how to get your share of the $2 billion verdict.

I avoid animatic, zombie, vampire, comic book and lowly-rated Rotten Tomatoes films.  I enjoy alien movies, and most probably because I once worked for NASA on the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI).  Last year I had a posting entitled:  The Best Extraterrestrial Intelligence Films.  So here is a follow-up.

I went to the internet to find out what were the best SETI films of all time.  There are all kinds of lists, but many had Alien at #1.  So  I went to Netflix and Prime, and found #49, the 1984 Starman, available for free on Prime.  Starred Jeff Bridges and Karen Allen,  direction by John Carpenter.  Rotten Tomatoes gave it decent 85/70 scores.  I loved the film.  Then I learned there was a follow-up series, 22 episodes in the 1986-7 period.  Can't find it anywhere.

Jeff Bridges is 71 and apparently not in splendid health.  Karen Allen, now 68, made her debut in Animal House and went on to Raiders of the Lost Ark.  Frankly, don't click on those links.  Best to remember them in their prime.

#50 was a film I had watched two years ago, the 2019 The Vast of Night.  Rotten Tomatoes rated it 92/66.  I liked it, very much.  Sort of a matter of fact every day simple flick, 1950's New Mexico.  Most SETI productions are splashy and steeped in computer graphics, with mystery or fear.  Not this one.  Worth your while if you have the time.  From Wikipedia:

The two take a moment to catch their breath, but they see the truth when they lay eyes on flying saucer hovering nearby. They watch in awe as the spacecraft rejoins a massive mothership in the sky, and the wind begins swirling around them. Elsewhere the crowd leaves the basketball game, but Everett, Fay, and Maddie are gone. Only their footprints and tape recorder remain.

Provoked by these two lowly rated SETI shows, I thought, why not the 1979 Alien, for Rotten Tomatoes gave it 98/94.  As Saturday was International Whisk(e)y Day, I had a Hibiki on spherical ice.

The meal was a mixed bag of alien treats.  The cat in the photo turns out to be one of the two survivors in Alien.

Well, the only place I could find the film was on Prime, for $3.99.  Oh, well, better than driving to a theater and paying $20 after you add popcorn and drinks.  What came to immediate mind was that this was 1979 and all those actors looked so young.  John Hurt did not look old, and Tom Skerrit had  18 years to go until his villainous role in  Contact, which only got 66/78 scores from RT.  Sigourney Weaver looked terrific.  Well, she is now 67, and watch her age from a one-year old.  Still not bad today.

I thought, this was like going back home in time.  What was I doing in 1979?  Oh, yeah, a big year for me.  I was at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory on laser fusion, and was invited by Senator Spark Matsunaga to join his staff in DC.  The world was suffering from the Second Energy Crisis and gasoline was scarce.  I must have first viewed this film that year.

This was the grimiest, sweatiest and cinematographically darkest movie I've ever seen.  It occurred to me that I would never want to be in that environment, and the luxury of showers/baths came intruding to mind.

Noticed that Mozart's Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, my #27 favorite song, was used in the soundtrack.  I also recently purchased a blue tooth doorbell system that plays EKN three times/day when my meals are delivered.

Well, two survived that ordeal, which meant there surely was going to be a sequel.  

• Surely enough, there were three of them, in 1986 by James Cameron, 1992 by David Fincher and 1997 by Jean-Pierre Jeunet.  Ridley Scott then did a prequel, Prometheus in 2012, followed by Alien:  Covenant in 2017.
• Sigourney Weaver returned to #2 and #3, but did not want to be part of #4, until given $11 million and creative control.  

• 
  But you can also count Predator in 1987, Predator 2 in 1990 and four more.

Chronologically, if you watch all twelve, what should be the order?

1. Predator (1987):  Arnold Schwarzenegger stars.
2. Predator (1990):  Danny Glover and Gary Busey.
3. Alien vs Predator (2004)
4. Alien vs Predator Requiem (2007)
5. The Predator (2018)
6. Predators (2010)
7. Prometheus (2008)
8. Alien Covenant (2017)
9. Alien (1979)
10. Aliens (1986)
11. Alien 3 (1992)
12. Alien Resurrection (1997)

I suspect I will start with 7-12, then later, depending on how much money is involved, 1-6.

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