Mizzou-Hoisted On Their Own Petard

Mizzou is taking it on the chin after their stunningly stupid handling of the "protests" there.

The school is braced for a 25 percent drop in new students this coming fall, forcing the institution to enact painful budget cuts, as well as hiring and salary freezes.

“We do know that the events of last fall have had an effect on our application numbers; however, it’s difficult to provide a specific number as we do not have any hard data," University of Missouri spokesman Christian Basi said in a statement to Foxnews.com.

That's not the only place they'll lose revenue; it occurs to me that their legions of sports fans will stop attending events and stop buying shirts and hats, as well as other items emblazoned with the Tiger logo. And alumni financial support? This could also be a huge "ouch".

The financial price could ultimately be catastrophic, which is a shame. It WAS a good school that we in flyover land proudly supported.

And this. So much THIS:

“College enrollment is declining overall – perhaps because high school graduates are realizing trivial courses that lecture on “white privilege” and “queer liberation” – just to name two – don’t help one much with employment and real-world problems,” Kyle Olson, founder and head of the Education Action group and news site EAGnews.org, told FoxNews.com.

He adds that the same can be true of the microcosm of Mizzou.

“Do most reasonable people want classmates who parade through the library finger-waving about the supposed evils of whiteness – or professors who threaten the safety of their students and undermining the very tenant that protects their profession for which she is training them: the First Amendment?” he asked.

Character and Class

Ben Carson didn't hear his name called at the debate and was left hanging in the entryway. The other candidates walked right past him. Not Trump. He immediately sized up the situation and responded in the classiest way possible. He stood with Dr. Carson. Then he delayed his own entrance so Dr. Carson could accept the crowd applause.

Well done sir. VERY well done.

Spain's New Gag Law

Wow. Just wow.

The countdown has ended. The government’s new Citizen Safety Law went into effect on Wednesday despite widespread rejection from opposition parties and many sections of society.

“Demonstrations will be freer because they will be protected from violent elements,” claims the ruling Popular Party (PP).

But the opposition accuses the government of creating “a police state” because law enforcement officers will have the power to hand out administrative sanctions that were, until now, the sole preserve of judges.

The following are five things that will be limited by the new “gag law,” as its critics call it.

READ THE REST HERE. 

Social Sciences and the Humanities

I came across this interesting article the other day, about universities and the humanities:

They have generous compensation, stunning surroundings and access to the latest technology and techniques of scholarship. The only thing they lack is students: Some 45 percent of the faculty members in Stanford’s main undergraduate division are clustered in the humanities — but only 15 percent of the students.

With Stanford’s reputation in technology, it is no wonder that computer science is the university’s most popular major, and that there are no longer any humanities programs among the top five. But with the recession having helped turn college, in the popular view, into largely a tool for job preparation, administrators are concerned.

“We have 11 humanities departments that are quite extraordinary, and we want to provide for that faculty,” said Richard Shaw, Stanford’s dean of admission and financial aid.

The concern that the humanities are being eclipsed by science goes far beyond Stanford.

I wonder if the inclusion of weirdo "social sciences" under the humanities umbrella has anything to do with declining enrollment. These days, people want JOBS when they get out of school. Education is too expensive to pad your transcript with Womyn's Studies or Being Gay in the 21st Century.

Some professors are incorporating the current generation's tether to technology to garner interest in their fare:

At Stanford, digital humanities get some of that vigor: In “Teaching Classics in the Digital Age,” graduate students use Rap Genius, a popular website for annotating lyrics from rappers like Jay-Z and Eminem, to annotate Homer and Virgil. In a Literary Lab project on 18th-century novels, English students study a database of nearly 2,000 early books to tease out when “romances,” “tales” and “histories” first emerged as novels, and what the different terms signified. And in “Introduction to Critical Text Mining,” English, history and computer majors use R software to break texts into chunks to analyze novels and Supreme Court rulings.

Yep, being proficient in Rap Genius will land you a killer-good job. Or not.

I'm glad to see schools concentrating on STEM fields, but I think that every college graduate should have an basic understanding of philosophy, literature, art, and languages. What do you all think?

Doodles And Scribbles

 Here is a little piece I wrote for my class newsletter; Noah thought that you all might enjoy reading it.  I know it's kind of...well, saccharine...but after all, we're about to be earning our living by being elbow-deep in other people's smelly stuff.  We need all the sweetening up (and encouragement) we can get!

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                                                                  On The Cusp

     

As we, the class of 2012, approach our last semester, I see a solid confidence growing in all of us. The nursing program is tough. It’s VERY tough. We are the strong ones, able to adapt and grow, to listen and learn, to dig deep to find the core of who we are. We are the best of the best. Each of us has fought our own dragons to get here; we all have a unique story, and only we, as individuals, truly know the enormity of our personal accomplishments. We’ve laughed together, we’ve cried together, we’ve shared our deepest fears, and we’ve celebrated each other’s personal wins with a generosity of spirit that will bind us forever.

Now, we stand at the cusp of our calling as healers. It’s exhilarating and frightening all at the same time. As we leave the hallowed halls of ASU in December and step into the role of a professional RN, here are a few attributes I think we need to take with us; I’m sure each of you could add to this list!

Unwavering faith to feel God’s hand upon our shoulder when we’re overwhelmed, when we’re exhausted, when we’re pushed beyond our limits, when we grieve with an overwrought family.

The inner strength and courage to look into a colleague’s eyes and say “I don’t know how to do that. Will you please teach me?” or “I don’t understand that. Will you please explain it to me?”

The grace to realize that being pinned an RN is solemn a rite of admission into an elite group of outstanding men and women, and that it is only the first baby step of learning to be a NURSE.

The humility to know that everyone around us owns vast knowledge and skills that we haven’t even begun to acquire, and to approach all of our new colleagues with respect and a humbleness of spirit.

The open-mindedness to soak up new experiences like a sponge, and to learn from them.

The self-confidence to go home at the end of a long shift, fill the kitchen table with books, and expand our knowledge and understanding.

 The wisdom to allow ourselves to grow as new nurses, to rely on our mentors, and to listen to those around us.

Sincere thankfulness for the nursing instructors who taught us to think on our feet, and to quickly adapt to constantly changing situations; these ladies rewired our brains to approach problems in a critical, systematic manner. The first time we save a life by calmly utilizing all of our skills, remember them.

Gratitude for the nurses who have gone before us, blazing a trail of excellence and reaching behind them to pull us up.

Obligation to the student nurses coming up behind us; let’s not forget how much they need our guidance and support, and let’s make time in our busy “brand new nurse” schedules to mentor them with a joyful heart.

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The 'Stache Endorses Mittens!

Well, heavens to murgatroyd. I didn't see this coming at all, at least not in mid-January when the campaign cycle is in it's early days.

John Bolton, the hawkish former ambassador to the United Nations under George W. Bush, endorsed Mitt Romney Wednesday night. “I think Gov. Romney is the person who can best lead the party, best articulate our conservative principles and is most likely to beat Barack Obama,” Bolton told Greta Van Susteren on Fox News.

Maybe it's for the best. If Romney is to be our candidate, then we ALL need to get behind the guy. I know there is much concern that Tea Party types like me won't support another stinky candidate, but let me assure the R establishment that I would support a week-old grilled cheese sandwich if it would depose the Obama regime. I think a majority of the Ron Paul(!) supporters will too. They'd better, or we're screwed.

A "sprinkle of levity" bonus round! A piping hot cuppa Tetley's to the first person to name the Hanna-Barbera cartoon character who uttered the phrase "heavens to murgatroyd", and the two cartoons in which he appeared.

Hypocrite

Paul Krugman is one of the biggest hypocrites on the planet. The media has exposed many of the OWS supporters as belonging to the "1%". Oh no! Can't have that! So what's Krugman's solution to the problem? Move the bar!

If anything, however, the 99 percent slogan aims too low. A large fraction of the top 1 percent’s gains have actually gone to an even smaller group, the top 0.1 percent — the richest one-thousandth of the population.

Yep, that's right. Now it's the 0.1 %. How convenient! The brand-spanking-new rallying cry safely moves Krugman, Michael Moore, and other babbling idiots OUT of the hated "capitalist pig" category, while preserving their socialist ideological rantings AND their piles of loot.

While it can be argued that many of the OWSers crapping in our streets are homeless folks, drug burnouts from the 60s, Marxist professors, and spoiled rotten trust-fund babies, I believe that many more people support the spirit of the protest (watching events from their living rooms) and are intelligent, serious people FED UP with a broken government and a corrupt financial/banking system. I don't think Krugman's machinations will fool them one bit.

As a sidenote: why would anyone listen to Krugman anyway? His economics textbooks, used in universities everywhere, have been instrumental in running our entire economy off the road and into a mud bog. He's the LAST person I'd ask for economic advice.