A few links I came across recently caught my attention by discussing academic excellence and the education system. First is Are We Failing Our Geniuses? from TIME, which discusses the lack of available programs for advanced students. Second was the discussion of offering free college tuition for Math, Science and Engineering majors as proposed by Montana Senator Max Baucus. The idea there being that our programs are falling behind those in other countries, and therefore the incentive is designed to pull more students into those fields to have better overall programs.

I have to say, I've personally been pretty disappointed with our nation's education system for some time now. The No Child Left Behind act has encouraged schools to act like a union, where those not carrying their weight get promoted anyway due to contract rules and those performing better cannot get ahead. Where's the incentive to work hard? I truly believe this is where most politicians (and people in general) get confused between "equal opportunity" and "equality".

As for the free tuition idea, I believe the senator is just a bit misguided, or just trying to make a name for himself. The root of the problem is not a lack of interest, but a lack of understanding about the need for math, science and engineering in the foundational years of education.

Today, most subjects like to downplay it, but math and science make up the basis for almost everything we do. However, we're now getting business majors who can't do basic calculus (great for observing trends in earnings and markets), computer science majors who can't problem solve (and if you can't do that, then a program can probably be written to replace you), and civil engineers who create aesthetic roads that are absolutely unusable (that goes double for Pittsburgh).

The root of the problem may lie in the fact that most of today's teachers carry a degree in Education, and really don't have a specialty or a passion for one. Unfortunately, it's not years of education in Education that make a great teacher, but a passion for their subject and wanting to pass that passion on to others that makes a great teacher. I was fortunate to have a few of these teachers over the years, and am very thankful that I did.

• Smarter Teens Have Less Sex - Maybe they know the problems that can result if you screw up at that age?
• Electric Car May Usher Changes - A Norwegian car company named Think is looking to change the way people look at electric cars and car sales in general.
• Singles, Not Albums, Define Music Industry Success - Only interesting because it was clearly written by someone who wasn't paying attention. Fifteen years ago, the music industry was doing fine and releasing quality albums. However, closer to ten years ago they decided that they could make more money by putting a single with a bunch of crappy songs and still calling it an album. The only problem with this change by the industry is that it came about the time that the MP3 was gaining popularity and file sharing on the internet was growing. Basically, their plan backfired as people realized that they could get the one decent song for free instead of wasting $15-20. Since then, the music industry has been scrambling to figure out what to do now, and their mislead efforts to sue kids who downloaded a few songs and raise internet radio royalty rates (a source which is probably one of their biggest advertising posibilities at this time). In fact, the music industry could probably do better if they could put together solid albums instead of aiming for one-hit wonders.

Just a quick post today, but CNN.com is reporting on a study that shows that college students are becoming more vain. Clearly, the people conducting the study completed college at least 30 years ago, or they would have saved themselves the trouble of stating the obvious to all of us.

While the article even tries to spin it in a good light (stating that narcissism may even be good in some situations, specifically citing having the courage to go to American Idol auditions...that's right, even William Hung), the truth is that there a number of people in my generation and the next coming generation are going to be in a lot of trouble when they realize that the "You're special!" and "You can do whatever you want!" hippy feel-good mantras leave them stuck in a go-nowhere job, because they never put the effort into developing marketable skillsets, and lonely, because they put their image above all meaningful friendships and relationships.

Granted, this won't happen to everyone, but even if it happens to as much as a quarter of graduates, it's a shame.

Besides, if we were all special, then nobody would be special!

I'm still amazed by all the hubub from Boston since Wednesday about the Adult Swim promotion gone awry. Expecially now that they've got the two guys who put up the promotions in custody, because they really don't deserve to be there.

Make sure you take the 2 minutes to watch the "A scary 'promotion'" video linked from that page and the "Web video shows men placing light boards around Boston" video on this page. You'll quickly realize how rediculous it was that someone mistake something that looks like it was made with a Lite-Brite for a bomb. Plus, the promotions went up in nine other major cities, and none of them called in bomb threats.

I'm sure the city of Boston is looking for someone to hold responsible (both morally and financially) for this situation, where they appear to have blown over a half-million dollars dealing with these "potential bombs". However, they'd probably be better off fessing up to their own mistakes in the situation and moving on. But these are politicians heading the charge, so don't expect that to happen. However this ends, it's probably going to be badly, and it'll probably cost more than a half-million in taxpayer money. Thankfully, I don't live in Massachusetts, so I don't have to help foot the bill.

Oh, and you might want to think about throwing that old Lite-Brite away, or someone might think you're building a bomb....

UPDATE: Well, it looks like the city got Turner Broadcasting to foot the bill for their overzealous response, as well as provide $1 million in "goodwill funds" that will be divided amongst the agencies to provide emergency response training, among other initiatives. I'd love to be in one of those training classes as the instructor went back and forth between a package C4 and a Lite-Brite going "bomb", "not bomb", "bomb", "not bomb".

While it's nice to see that a memorial will be built for the remarkable Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., I have to admit that it seems a bit excessive to build one that will cost $100 million. Heck, King himself might even be rolling over in his graving knowing all that money was going to a memorial and not to helping further the cause of equality.

For all the good intentions, I can't help but shake my head after reading about that...

I'm officially growing sick of "This Week's Top TV Shows" Reports, and the dependence upon which the television industry places upon them (for advertising purposes, which then influences program decision making). While the Nielsen ratings are often taken as de Facto proof, they are, in fact, a very loose approximation of the viewing population.

According to Nielsen Media Research, they pull from a representative population:

"Our samples include homes from all 50 states, from cities to towns, from suburbs to rural areas. We have homeowners and apartment dwellers — some with children and some without — across a broad range of demographic categories. We include people of all ages, income groups, geographic areas, ethnicities and educational levels — all in proportion to their presence in the population at large."

While this will give you a nice demographic of the population in general, it leaves out a major criteria in TV viewing: viewing patterns. For example, I am a sports nut, and am more likely to watch a random sporting event than I am a half-hour sitcom. However, there are people who wouldn't watch sports if they could help it. If one type of person is selected over the other, it will skew the accuracy of the results.

Now, lets take that example and expound upon it. Let's take 20 people who all fall into the same demographic category and group them by their viewing habits:

• 2 who prefer historical content
• 5 who prefer sports and competitions
• 6 who prefer comedies and sitcoms
• 7 who prefer various types of dramas

Let's assume that Nielsen Media Research uses a 10% sample to calculate their viewer approximations. Regardless of who is chosen to be in the sample, the results will be skewed to different degrees (for example, if both history buffs are chosen to be in the sample, the viewer approximations for the larger group will be very inaccurate in comparison to actual viewership).

Even as the general population is increases and the likelihood of a more representative sample group increases, there is no guarantee that every viewing habit will be accurately represented. This is the inherent flaw in the system.

It might also be why "Dancing With The Stars" always has such high ratings, but the only person I know who watches it is my mother.

With the advances in television communications technology, they may soon be able to collect more data to give more realistic approximations, but until that happens, or Nielsen works to get better representations of the population, we're stuck with a flawed system of approximations.

So the next time your favorite TV show gets canceled, look to Nielsen. Their methods may have been the inadvertent cause of the cancellation.

One of the most atrocious and laughable phenomena of the last few decades, the 'Helicopter Parent' has reached new heights as their kids have aged. They're now highly involved in their children's job search process.

For those not familiar with 'Helicopter Parents', you probably are and just don't realize it. These are parents who hover over their kids lives, getting far to involved in aspects which they don't need to be a part of. Some examples are parents who call up college professors and complain about bad grades their children got.

Well, now their attending job fairs and answering questions about the student's backgrounds for them. Some parents have even gone as far as to call an employer asking why their kid didn't get a job after an interview, or if the child did get hired, asking about job performance reviews.

If you're one of these kids, welcome to the 7th Level of Loserdom. If you can't prove yourself without mommy and daddy's help, then you're of no use as an employee.

It's bad enough that these parents act like this, but it's even worse that these children let them do it this long. I'm sure it seems easier to have someone else do everything for you, but then there's no sense of accomplishment or satisfaction.

Oh, and if you're one of these kids, please don't ever bother interviewing with me for a position. I know that if I get a call from your parents for any reason, they'll be hung up on faster than a helicopter blade can spin.

I just wanted to pass along this terrific story of Scott Adams, the creator of the Dilbert comic strip, and his dealing with, and practically overcoming Spasmodic Dysphonia, which has caused him to not be able to speak normally for the past 18 months. His blog is a good read anyway, but this story was particularly inspiring. Check it out for yourself:

The Dilbert Blog: Good News Day

Ok, in the past it's been News of the Dumb and News of the Stupid, but these stories seem to be popping up more and more frequently, so I'm going to give them the status of a YCBE recognition. Simply put, these are stories so ridiculous that they're likely to make you stop in your tracks and exclaim "You Can't Be Serious".

Here are today's candidates:

• Willett Elementary School in Attleboro, Massachusetts recently banned students from playing "tag" during recess. Doesn't anyone remember that kids are supposed to get bumps and scrapes, and that public schools are meant to be entities that communities rally around and not team-up against? Nonetheless, in order to avoid any further possible liability concerns for the school, the following list of approved recess activities has been released:

  • Sitting Still Contests

  • One-Square (use of rubber balls not allowed)

  • "I Spy"

  • Reading (though gloves must be worn to prevent paper cuts)

• Chris Rock's mother (who looks like she just scored a hit in this photo) is suing Cracker Barrel for discrimination. Apparently, she and her daughter were seated and then not waited on for a half-hour at a location on the South Carolina coast. She then spoke with a manager, who offered them free meals, and decided she was too disgusted to eat, claiming they were ignored because they were the only black people in the restaurant. The Rev. Al Sharpton, never one to miss a public appearance, rushed quickly to her side. While Cracker Barrel does not have a spotless past, it's hard to take this reactionary complaint seriously (though I'm sure the courts will). I mean, it's impossible that the hostess might have forgotten to tell their waitress that she was seated with more customers. Heck, I'm a suburban white boy, and there have been times I've waited about that long for service, but I'm pretty sure I wasn't being discriminated against.

• Lastly, The U (Miami University to those who know better) and the ACC have been defending the 1-game suspensions of 13 football players for their involvement in a brawl in the third quarter of their game against Florida International University, where one player, a team captain no-less, was stomping on various FIU players with his cleats, while another brandished his helmet as a weapon. Both organizations have stated that the suspensions are "strict" and "send a message". Well, that message might be "well, we're pretty sure we can still beat winless Duke without them next week". The appropriate responses would have been to dismiss the two players above from the team, and then suspend the remainder of the players involved for the season. Instead, The U has brandished the slogan "Give us your thugs, your violent and ill-tempered...as long as they can play football".

Does this look wrong to anyone else?

I know math is great and all, but it makes a lot more sense if the numbers are supposed to be added together and give you a meaningful total.