… is the title of my new post up at Inside Higher Education. It’s a little meditation on Bernie Madoff and Harry Markopolos and universities.

Wells Fargo & Co. said it has reconsidered holding an event in Las Vegas after reports earlier that the company had planned functions for its mortgage and insurance units.

Spokesman Kevin Waetke said in an e-mail the company has reconsidered holding the event. A follow up statement is “forthcoming,” he wrote.

Background here.

Singularity University, which will be housed on the NASA Ames base near Mountain View and begin classes in June, is the brainchild of Ray Kurzweil and Peter Diamandis. The two world-renowned scientists were expected to unveil their plans at the TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) conference beginning in Long Beach today.

The school hopes to attract students from a cross section of emerging disciplines – including nanotechnology, biotechnology and information technology – to tackle huge issues facing humanity. Pandemics and global health care concerns would be typical in scope and import.

… Singularity will consist of a single, nine-week course of study every summer, during which 120 students from a cross-section of disciplines will mix together to tackle weighty issues. Tuition will be $25,000…

More than 4 1/2 tons of pot has been found in an abandoned school bus near the U.S.-Mexico border.

A Texas Department of Public Safety statement released Tuesday says a state trooper found the drugs near Laredo, on the side of U.S. 59 in Webb County, over the weekend. According to the statement, 560 marijuana bundles totaling more than 9,210 pounds were hidden under a cardboard false floor and in a secret ceiling compartment.

The DPS estimates the marijuana is worth $3.9 million retail and says the seizure is the second largest it’s made during routine traffic enforcement since 1997…

… local news excitement, UD has gotten behind in her coverage of university stories: the on-again, off-again affair between Brandeis and its art collection; drunk coaches, overpaid fund managers, conflicted medical school professors (far too many to link to); and, of course, that perennial embarrassment, Southern Illinois University.

Bear with her as she pulls herself together.

The story about La Kid and the Springsteen Super Bowl chorus will run pretty shortly on WUSA News.

They do some singing. They sound really, really good.

… UD, Mr UD, and La Kid, were just interviewed by Bruce Johnson of WUSA News, a CBS affiliate in DC. The crew was covering the return of the Springsteen chorus to Washington. I don’t know if we’ll actually show up in the story, but you might want to tune in (or find it on the internet) if the idea of seeing ALL of Les UD’s at the same time is appealing.

… He shook my hand and he thanked me. We had lots of pictures taken with him. I talked with Nils Lofgren too. I told him I’m from Garrett Park. He said that was cool. Then I got my picture taken with him too…. It’s just amazing, Mommy! We’re leaving now – to beat the crowds. I’ll be home in about sixteen hours. See you.”

Whoops in the background. Huge whoops. I can barely hear her.

“It was amazing. The crowd greeted us like celebrities. The audience was enormous! The whole thing was unbelievable. I have to go. I’ll call you back…”

… would you have glimpsed the kid on the far right. Oh well.

Two minutes to go until the halftime show, and it can’t be denied that Les UD‘s, who have been totally calm and okay with all of this, are now nervous.

“I’m nervous,” Mr UD just said.

“I’m nervous,” UD just said in response.

First funny commercial: Chimps make a guy king and kiss his lips.

“Bad choral precedent,” worries Mr UD after the kitschy Faith Hill thing. “The camera barely noticed them.”

“The Springsteen thing will be totally different,” insists UD. “It’ll be like… like a real concert. Stage. Light show. This is just a bunch of people singing on a field. I think Ania’s chorus will get a little more air time.”

“Hm.”

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… you have to be into build-up and aftermath. The event itself — thousands of people racing into the Atlantic Ocean and racing out — takes three seconds.

But there’s the rescue boat doing tight circles and spewing jets of water, and there’s the little boat alongside it blowing its horn, and there’s the man dressed as a polar bear.