A Word To The Wise

I dared click on the "next blog" link in the header above. It gave me this site. I'm not sure if I should be scared of the kids these days, or just depressed that they're our future. One can't deny the insightfulness of this observation, however:

-*watch cindwella st0wii+ -*new bAg+ -*new wAllet+ -*rAinb0w rEsuLtx+!!!

Indeed!

Conventional Wisdom

Arnold - spectacular. You couldn't watch that speech and not feel good about the Republican party. You know you're a good politician when you can make a Nixon reference work. But to make it a highlight - that's special.

Bush twins - awful. Before their thing tonight, I didn't like them, but couldn't come up with a reason why. Problem solved.

Laura - boring.

My title to this post - cliche.

But hey, how about that Arnold!

College In A Nutshell

Chuck Klosterman's review of another silly "real college" book in the New York Times is a much better (and shorter! and cheaper!) guide to college. Here's a sampler:

ACADEMICS: Your academic adviser will probably tell you to take at least a year to figure out what you want to do with your life, and there is no rush to pick a major. This advice is why everyone now goes to college for six years. Pick a major immediately. If you have no idea what you want to do, major in English; there are no wrong answers, and you can always change the totality of your life next semester. If nothing else, you'll get some reading done.

. . .

IDENTITY: If you are female and have a one-time sexual experience with another woman, you are probably exploring your physicality, expanding your morality, gaining an understanding of what you will (and will not) desire within the context of a mature, ideologically consensual relationship. If you are male and have a one-time sexual experience with another man, you are probably gay.

. . .

SEX: It will happen a lot, yet not enough. And it will happen to other people more.

His conclusion:

High school is hard. Life is hard. College is easy. Can you hang out and smoke cigarettes you hate for six hours a day? Can you advocate political movements you'd never possibly join? Can you hold polarizing opinions about books you haven't read and can you memorize things you never needed to know in the first place? Of course you can. And you'll be perfect.

Internet Gives Teenage Bullies Weapons to Wound From Afar

New York Times

Reading this article first made me think, "boy, I'm glad I got out of high school when I did." Then I realized it really wouldn't be that different. I'm sure the vast majority of this bullying is just an electronic version of talking behind someone's back. Except now you have a better chance of finding the source! IM names aren't bulletproof, and blogs authors are even easier to figure out (not me, though. My anonymity is airtight. Sure, the RSS feed of this site had my full name for the first 6 months of the site, but whatever). So maybe all this electronic bullying is good for the bullied. Or at least a preferable alternative. Now if we could just find a way to limit beatings to electronic form only . . .

The Boys From 'South Park' Go to War

New York Times

Check out the trailer here.

You Know Your Undergrad Has Hit The Big Time. . .

. . . when it gets a mention on How Appealing. Of course, it's because some visiting prof destroyed her own car, but we'll take what we can get.

US News Rankings - Best Colleges 2005

US News had this up on their site for a while, though I think it's gone now for some reason. Here it is:


1.
Williams College (MA)
2.
Amherst College (MA)

Swarthmore College (PA)
4.
Wellesley College (MA)
5.
Carleton College (MN)

Pomona College (CA)
7.
Bowdoin College (ME)

Davidson College (NC)
9.
Haverford College (PA)

Wesleyan University (CT)
11.
Middlebury College (VT)
12.
Vassar College (NY)
13.
Claremont McKenna College (CA)

Smith College (MA)

Washington and Lee University (VA)
16.
Colgate University (NY)

Grinnell College (IA)

Harvey Mudd College (CA)
19.
Colby College (ME)

Hamilton College (NY)
21.
Bryn Mawr College (PA)
22.
Bates College (ME)
23.
Oberlin College (OH)
24.
Mount Holyoke College (MA)

Trinity College (CT)
26.
Bucknell University (PA)

Macalester College (MN)

Scripps College (CA)
29.
Barnard College (NY)

Kenyon College (OH)
31.
College of the Holy Cross (MA)

Lafayette College (PA)
33.
Colorado College

Sewanee – University of the South (TN)
35.
Bard College (NY)

Connecticut College

Whitman College (WA)
38.
Franklin and Marshall College (PA)

Furman University (SC)
40.
Dickinson College (PA)

Union College (NY)
42.
Centre College (KY)

DePauw University (IN)

Occidental College (CA)
45.
Gettysburg College (PA)

Rhodes College (TN)

Skidmore College (NY)
48.
Sarah Lawrence College (NY)

Wabash College (IN)
50.
Denison University (OH)
51.
Wheaton College (IL)

Willamette University (OR)
53.
Agnes Scott College (GA)

Beloit College (WI)

Illinois Wesleyan University

Kalamazoo College (MI)

Lawrence University (WI)

Reed College (OR)1
59.
College of Wooster (OH)

Drew University (NJ)

Pitzer College (CA)
62.
Southwestern University (TX)

St. Lawrence University (NY)

St. Olaf College (MN)

Wheaton College (MA)
66.
Spelman College (GA)

Wofford College (SC)
68.
Hobart and William Smith Col. (NY)

Sweet Briar College (VA)
70.
Austin College (TX)

Birmingham - Southern College (AL)

Earlham College (IN)

Hendrix College (AR)

Mills College (CA)

Muhlenberg College (PA)

Ursinus College (PA)
77.
Gustavus Adolphus College (MN)

Knox College (IL)

Lewis and Clark College (OR)

St. John's University (MN)

University of Puget Sound (WA)

Virginia Military Institute *
83.
Albion College (MI)

Allegheny College (PA)

Randolph - Macon Woman's College (VA)

Washington and Jefferson Col. (PA)
87.
Hollins University (VA)

St. Mary's College of Maryland *
89.
Augustana College (IL)

Hanover College (IN)

Millsaps College (MS)

Ohio Wesleyan University

Presbyterian College (SC)

Thomas Aquinas College (CA)

Washington College (MD)
96.
Bennington College (VT)

Goucher College (MD)

Hillsdale College (MI)

Hope College (MI)

Principia College (IL)
101.
College of St. Benedict (MN)

Hampshire College (MA)

Juniata College (PA)

Luther College (IA)
105.
Coe College (IA)

Lake Forest College (IL)

Randolph - Macon College (VA)

Transylvania University (KY)

Wells College (NY)

Wittenberg University (OH)

Give 'Em Helland

Eric Helland, a CMC prof (and occasional co-blogger Lauren's mentor), is guest blogging at Marginal Revolution. Thanks to Ben for the heads up.

Racial Composition of Los Angeles

These animated maps are very interesting. LA used to be just a bunch of white people. Now its much more colorful.

Great Amicus in California Same-Sex Marriage Case

Example heading:

"Master of Universe or Earth Sole Owner's Heir on Earth in Place of Messiah Jesus Return to Earth, as World Divine Commander-in-Chief."

Read the rest here.

They Stole My Idea!

Way back when, I posted on how great it would be if there was a "Bush blog." Well, here it is.