Azalin

Why can't WE have a leader like that?

He didn't do that - someone else made it happen.

Better genes?

Come to think of it, you're probably right.

At least we know we won't ever get stuck next to him flying first-class.

I think that things like this can always be improved. My issue was with the way the articles placed the emphasis of failure on the tech/trade schools themselves, and not at all on the poor choices the students made, while seemingly giving the 'traditional' colleges and universities a pass. I know a lot of servers and restaurant managers who went to UT Austin and cost their parents a small fortune in doing so, and can't find work because they hold degrees in Art History and Philosophy. If I had to make any suggestions as to what could be done regarding validating or invalidating the success of 'for profit' schools, I would offer businesses some kind of tax break for providing data on their new hires - where did they attain their degree, and were they hired through a school recruitment program or on the applicants' individual initiative. That way we could have some kind of idea of what the actual impact on filling job vacancies various schools have.

from the first link: "Too many recent college grads have no marketable skills, and face years of staggering loan payments for degrees they can’t effectively put to use. The solution is developing innovative programs that invest in training and educating young people for highly-skilled technical work in lucrative technology and manufacturing fields." That's ridiculous. If too many students graduate with no marketable skills, it's because they opted for a degree in a field with little or no opportunity for earning. The school happily takes the student's money, a lot of which is often in the form of loans or grants, and they get a pass while the 'for profit' schools get criticized for the same thing? from the second link: "For all their problems, for-profit universities are not inherently bad — just empirically bad." Again, that statement is ridiculous. I attended a 2-year tech school on Sallie Mae loans and wound up working for what's likely the largest telecom company in the world, earning the highest non-management pay they offer, with a 'Cadillac' health plan, a pension, and a 401K. If I hadn't gone to tech school, I'd likely still be slogging away in a restaurant somewhere. My point is that schools don't provide jobs, they provide education. It's what the individual does with that training that counts. And I would add that aside from the many apprenticeships still available in many fields around the country, it also exists under another name - internship.

When did they do that?

Can I pick'em, or what?

As far as I know, this is the only film footage of Leadbelly performing. Most of us were introduced to this song by Sonny and Brownie's version at the beginning of Steve's Martin's 'The Jerk'. I'm sick to death of the same old 12-bar blues, so I find this to be particularly refreshing: from The Jerk:

Azalin I hate that bastard.

I wouldn't think that carbonaceous aerosols actually decrease ice (or any other) albedo, but would be more inclined to absorb the diffused light, effectively removing heat potential from the atmosphere. In other words, unless the carbon actually coats the ice, the ice's potential for light diffusion shouldn't change.

An interesting article - still based in part on computer models, but relevant to the topic: "Because there was also less CO2 being removed from the atmosphere by vegetation and by weathering rocks than today, total atmospheric CO2 levels were probably five times higher than at the present, the researchers said. The findings suggest much higher CO2 levels than had been estimated in previous studies conducted in the 1980s and 1990s. That research had been based on indirect data from sea-level variations. Since then, scientists' understanding of Earth has improved significantly, and researchers already had begun to suspect that the old estimates were imperfect." http://www.livescience.com/44330-jurassic-dinosaur-carbon-dioxide.html

You're projecting again.

Any vocalist that uses autotune.

The first thing that came to my mind when you said that she is considering divorce was 'why'? When we find ourselves interested in a woman who's already in a relationship, us guys tend to assume that the source of that relationship's trouble is the man, when often times it's not. There are a lot of women who, like many other people, are kind, sweet, and caring, that are still rather self-centered to the point where they only preoccupy themselves with things that they want to do to the detriment of their relationship. They may get married for all the right reasons, but fail to realize that even the best marriages take effort to maintain. A very good friend of mine was burned pretty badly recently by getting involved with a woman from a failed marriage and not considering that the marriage failed because of her, not her ex. I would keep playing the field, maintain contact with this lady in the meantime, and see which way her marriage goes. Everyone who's already said her willingness to go behind her husband's back means that she'd also be willing to go behind yours is correct. If you maintain contact and see what develops with her marriage, while being honest with yourself about how she handles it, you'll be able to proceed with confidence, one way or the other, with what you decide to do in the future. In other words, think with your head, not with your heart. Easier said than done.

so you've learned to count using your toes now, I see.

I ran across that link yesterday. The guy nails it.

You sure as hell are preoccupied with Bon Jovi.

FTA: “We live in a society in which every person is entitled to his or her own opinions, and every person is entitled to express those opinions without fear of harm. And that isn’t changing, whether a small minority of psychotic, murderous degenerates like it or not.”

More specifically, it was the original Alice Cooper Band that was finally inducted. And Deep Purple finally got in as well. I must agree with you about Motorhead and Maiden though.

You said jealously.

Ah, Disco. Pussification with chest hair.