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When it comes to innovation, on-line retailer Amazon beats Alphabet, the parent company of search engine Google, by a mile.
That's according to a recent Drucker Institute survey, which assigns Amazon an innovation score of 166.3, almost twice Alphabet's score of 95, helping Amazon occupy the top rank in the 2017 list of the most effective companies—see table 1
Wall Street has taken notice. Amazon's shares have gained 52.70% YTD and 379.14% over the last five years, compared to 50.73% and 140.30% for Apple, and 34.20% and 205.10% for Alphabet—see table 2.
The findings of the Drucker Institute become more interested when the two companies are compared in another metric: Employee Engagement and Development. Specifically, the survey assigns Amazon an Employee Engagement and Development score of 57.3, almost half Google's score of 82—see table.
That may come as a surprise to organizational behavior experts who argue that employee development and engagement, which includes among other things free food, is the most important factor in keeping employees happy, creative, and innovative.
Apparently, Google's high employee engagement isn't sufficient to help the company beat Amazon.


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Title & Buy link: Lone Star
Author: Josh Lanyon
Publisher: Carina Press
Buy link: Amazon.com
Genre: Contemporary M/M, Holiday
Length: Novella (26k Words)
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
A Guest Review by Feliz
Summary Review: This was a lovely Christmas reunion story, laced with just the perfect little pinch of magic for the proper holiday feeling.
The Blurb: Growing up in rural Texas, Mitchell Evans's ambition to be a dancer made him a target. Though he found success in New York City, Mitch is at a crossroads, and heads home for the first time in twelve years to figure things out. When what appears to be a reindeer jumps out in front of his car, he drives off the road and into the path of the one man he hoped to avoid.
The last person Texas Ranger Web Eisley expects to see four days before Christmas is his first love. He hasn't seen Mitch since they quarreled over coming out to their friends and family years ago. Though he's not in the closet now, Web has worked hard for the respect of his fellow officers, but he still regrets the loss of Mitch in his life. And his bed.
The attraction between them is as strong as ever, and it doesn't take long for the men to pick up where they left off. But is love enough to keep Mitch in town in the New Year?
The Review: Mitchell Evans achieved everything he set out to on that Christmas Eve twelve years ago when he left his home town Llano, Texas in a hurry after breaking up with his father and the love of his life, Web. Now Mitch is a successful ballet dancer in New York, and he never intended to come back to Llano.
However, life apparently has other plans with him. A few days before Christmas, after a number of heavy blows to his professional as well as his private happiness, Mitch needs to get away from New York as fast and as far as possible. In some kind of rash action, he returns to Llano, telling himself he'll only be there for a few days. But, whether he likes it or not, there's unfinished business waiting for him there, the biggest of which is Web, Mitch's first love, who he runs into first thing before he even arrives.
It's Mitch who tells the story, but Web's personality is well brought out, too. The characterizations are flawless; Mitch's and Web's personalities match their respective chosen fields, and their reactions match their personalities. Those two complement each other perfectly: Web, more easy and laid-back, his emotions silent but solid to Mitch's impulsivity, his expressive passion and such a high-strung touchiness I'm tempted to call him drama-prone. And some of the secondary cast are delicious, particularly Web's family who I'd really love to be a part of.
The story moves along quietly and steadily although it has some outwardly dramatic moments. Mitch and Web realize immediately that there's still something between them, but they take their time to get reacquainted; and it's proof of the personal growth both went through during their time apart that they do so. The bigger conflict goes on within Mitch who for most of the story is standing in his own way with his stubborn determination not to admit to what he feels in his heart all along. Well, this wouldn't be a true Christmas story if he didn't get around eventually, would it? I liked the fact that Mitch comes to terms with himself almost all on his own, with just a tiny bit of (magical?) prompting.
This is a short story, so of course there were a few loose threads left, and there was a coincidence or three just too fortunate. But all in all this story transported the coming-home-for-Christmas feeling to delicious perfection. All the elements were there, from nostalgia to forgiveness, from family to second chances, from good food to true love, and for rounding it up, this story had just the tiny touch of magic that makes everything possible at Christmas time. It gave me the warm holiday fuzzies and even put me in the mood to finally start my Christmas baking. I finished the book with a smile and a happy sigh and I'd warmly recommend it as a sweet, beautiful Christmas treat.

subset: commoncrawl


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My interesting/ weird uber eats adventures Vol 1
I am an Uber Eats driver and it is mostly easy-going and smooth sailing but sometimes things get interesting. Here are some quirky things – weird I encountered as a driver. More times than you think, customers list the wrong delivery address. Uber eats has a feature when you can use the location of your phone to direct the driver to your location. The problem with that feature that it frequently lists an address that is near the phone but not your actual address. If the customer isn't paying attention, the driver gets a wrong address to deliver to. I delivered food to 309 that was listed on the order versus 306 where the customer was. I delivered the food to people that have no idea what is going but happy to take it. Then the correct customer comes out of their house across the house wanting their food. Awkward, but as she was yelling at me, I told her to check the address which was clearly wrong. This happens surprisingly often, I would guess about 20% – 25% of the time. For me, almost every day
My most eventful wrong-address-incident happened when I was a very new driver. The customer's address was wrong; I called her phone which was turned off; she did not answer. I messaged her, and she was nowhere to be found. I spend about 15 minutes trying to find the customer eventually calling uber support. That wouldn't happen now. I wised up. You only have to try to deliver and contact the customer if you can't reach or find them for 5 minutes. After that, you can leave. Finally, the customer comes running out a building that had nothing to do with the address given on the order. She said she was going to wait outside. Obviously, she was wasn't as I had been wandering around for 15 minutes looking for her. If I had known better I could have scored $50 worth of Mexican food. If you can't find the customer after your 5 minutes, you can "dispose of the food" that is keep it if you want.
Another good one was when the customer decided to give me the address of her building complex office 4199 but decided not to give the number or her actual building 4266. Don't these people want their food?
This type of delivery is just a pain in the ass. The customer lives in an apartment building, but they don't give you the code you need to get through the door. My most eventful one of these was a total clusterfuck. First of all, uber navigation hadn't mapped that area and directions stopped at a nearby office building, so I was just wandering around the neighborhood hoping to find the place. It is a community of tightly packed apartment buildings, my least favorite. I find the place there is a locked gate and I have no code. I am about to call the customer but someone lets me in. I look at the elevator and it doesn't appear to have a button just a prominent place to insert a key. I call the customer who can't communicate well. I explain that I can't get up the elevator without a key. He doesn't seem to understand what I am saying. He's asking me if I'm in the building when I am telling him I am in front of the elevator and that I can't get up. He's telling me I should have pull hard on the gate, it's broken and that I should be able to open it that way. Eventually, someone else comes in and presses a hidden button to call the elevator. This is a pet peeve of mine, there is such a thing as a hidden button on elevators that it can take a while to find. Who came up with this stupid design? The customer came down to get his food none too happy neither was I.
Then there is the customer that makes you get out of the car and hand them the food where they are standing in the driveway. This is how it happens, I pull up in a driveway, the customer is standing there but they don't move towards me to get their food, arms crossed they aren't moving, the food needs to come to them. So I have to put the car in park, get out and bring the food to them. I remember the first time this happened, I was like, wtf, don't you want this food? To me, it's the weirdest thing. I was a customer before I was a diver, I would wait outside when they got close and I went to get my food from the driver in the car cause I wanted my stuff. It seems like it's a power move like I paid for this delivery, so you gonna bring it to me. Please share if you have any ideas as to what this is about or if you do this. About 50% of the people who wait for me in the driveway do this and the other 50% come to me to get their food.
Last on my list of weirdness is how much I get tipped. I get tipped a lot by my customers. I didn't expect to get many tips because drivers in my area complain of almost no tips, the people are paying for the delivery so I why would they tip on top of that (that was my mentality)? Tips are important to me, they account for 10% -15% of my income and 3-4 hours of work. But they do and I'm so grateful. My average tip is $4, followed by $6, a distant $2 and $1. The tips I get are really surprising to me because when I was I customer I didn't tip. I figured I was paying for the delivery so, no tip. But my customers changed me. I'll always tip now. Do you have any food delivery or rideshare stories to share?


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.5L Authentic German Beer Boot - HB Hofbrauhaus Beer Label
- $19.99 $24.99
- Availability: In Stock
Brand: Hofbrauhaus
- Product Code: BB5L-HB1
Roll out the barrel! Sing a long with the smaller version of this famous boot-shaped HB drinking glass. Features the famous Hoffbrauhaus logo. Made with care and pride in Germany.
Fits a half liter of your favorite cold beverage.
Stands 7.75 inches tall.


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$0$; $y=3$
Work Step by Step
RECALL: (1) The slope of a horizontal line is $0$. (2) The equation of a horizontal line is $y=k$. Thus, the missing expressions in the given statements (in order) are: $0$; $y=3$
You can help us out by revising, improving and updating this answer.Update this answer
After you claim an answer you'll have 24 hours to send in a draft. An editor will review the submission and either publish your submission or provide feedback.


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Hamlet: Observations of Madness
One of the most analyzed plays in existence is the tragedy Hamlet, with its recurring question: "Is Hamlet's 'antic disposition' feigned or real?" In truth, this question can only be answered by observing the thoughts of the main characters in relation to the cause of Hamlet real or feigned madness. In the tragedy Hamlet, each of the main characters explains Hamlets madness in their own unique way. To discover the cause behind the madness of Hamlet, each character used their own ambitions, emotions and interpretations of past events. Characters tried to explain Hamlet's "antic disposition" by means of association to thwarted ambition, heartbreaking anguish, and denied love. In the workings of their thoughts, the characters inadvertently reveal something about their own desires, emotions and experiences to the reader.
The thoughts of Guildenstern and Rosencrantz present the reader with one possible factor for the cause of Hamlets supposed madness. The two men believe that the cause for Hamlets madness is his lack of "advancement" or thwarted ambition. In a conversation with Hamlet in Act II scene II, Guildenstern and Rosencrantz come upon this idea:
Hamlet: Denmark's a prison.
Rosencrantz: Then is the world one.
Hamlet: A goodly one; in which there are many confines,
wards and dungeons, Denmark being one o' the worst.
Rosencrantz: We think not so, my lord.
Hamlet: Why, then, 'tis none to you; for there is nothing
either good or bad, but thinking makes it
so: to me it is a prison.
When the heir apparent calls his heritage a prison, something must be seriously wrong, and it is not difficult for them to guess what that something is. As prince of Denmark, Hamlet was next in line to become king. Unfortunately, his mother's marriage to his uncle removed the short-term possibility for Hamlet to become king. Continuing on,
Rosencrantz: Why then, your ambition makes it one;
'tis too narrow for your mind.
Hamlet: O God, I could be bounded in a nut shell and count
myself a king of infinite space, were it not that I
have bad dreams.
Guildenstern: Which dreams indeed are ambition, for the very
substance of the ambitious is merely the shadow of a dream.
Hamlet: A dream itself is but a shadow.
Rosencrantz: Truly, and I hold ambition of so airy and light a
quality that it is but a shadow's shadow.
(Act II scene II)
From the start of the discussion, Rosencrantz believes that it is Hamlet's denied ambitions that creates Hamlet's negative view of everything around him, including his soon to be kingdom, Denmark. Guildenstern soon jumps onto this bandwagon, and joins Rosencrantz in explaining to Hamlet that it is denied ambition that is the cause of all his troubles. For their efforts, Hamlet latter uses the same "cause" to dismiss...


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In comic books, origin stories often involve chance meetings, freak accidents or personal tragedies. Not many of them start on a tennis court in the Poconos. But that is where the career of Jerry Robinson, 88, the man who created the villainous Joker, began.
His fateful 1939 encounter with Bob Kane, the creator of Batman, is recounted in "Jerry Robinson: Ambassador of Comics," a richly illustrated book by N. C. Christopher Couch, released last month by Abrams ComicArts. The book chronicles Mr. Robinson's career as comic-book artist and writer, comics historian and editorial cartoonist. The sweet spot for comics fans will be the glimpse into the formative days of Batman — one of many stories the spry and grandfatherly Mr. Robinson shared during a recent interview in his Upper West Side apartment.
Mr. Robinson found himself in the Poconos during the summer between high school and college, where he was sent by his mother to fatten up. His resort wear included a painter's jacket covered in his own cartoons. Mr. Kane, who was taking a week off after finishing the fabled Detective Comics No. 27, which included the first appearance of Batman, noticed the drawings, and the two got to talking.
"It's a shame you're going to Syracuse, or you could join the Batman team," Mr. Robinson recalled Mr. Kane's saying.
Not wanting to miss the opportunity to earn money and learn, Mr. Robinson switched to Columbia University, where he would study journalism, literature and creative writing. It was a heady time. "We really lived, ate, drank and slept Batman — ideas, characters and stories," he said.Continue reading the main story
Published by the company that would become DC Comics, the Batman stories were an immediate hit and pushed the men hard: they would work in Mr. Kane's Bronx apartment and have long discussions over lunch or dinner to come up with content. It was a hectic pace, but, Mr. Robinson said with a smile, "I was young and foolish."
If a hero is only as good as his opponent, then the creation of the Joker cannot be underestimated. "Villains, I always thought, were more interesting," Mr. Robinson said. He learned from his studies that some characters were built on their contradictions, so he decided that his evildoer would have a sense of humor.
"I think the name came first: the Joker," he said. "Then I thought of the playing card." (There was always a deck at hand, he recalled, thanks to his family's love of bridge and other card games.)
Mr. Robinson knew that clowns could be jolly or sinister, which helped define the villain's look. His first sketch depicts a striking menace in the Joker's eyes and smile. But the scarier aspect may be that the drawing was almost lost to history. Mr. Robinson said he'd only rediscovered his original sketch in recent years: "I found that in the back of a drawer."
Despite this oversight, Mr. Robinson was a pioneer in recognizing the value of original comic-book artwork, his own and others. "Jerry may be the first comics artist who realized the art they were creating was worth preserving," said Paul Levitz, the president of DC Comics from 2002 to 2009.
The Joker, Mr. Robinson said, was a hit with Kane and the writer Bill Finger. (Though DC Comics credits Kane as the creator of the Caped Crusader in all the Batman books it publishes, Finger had a role in developing the surrounding mythos and is sometimes referred to as Batman's co-creator.) "They both went bananas and made the Joker the first story in Batman No. 1," he said.
Credit for a comic-book character can often be in dispute, even today. Kane, who died in 1998, contended that he and Finger, who died in 1974, created the Joker.
The character had its debut in 1940 and was originally meant to die at the end of the story. But an editor, sensing the possibilities in this new villain, made a quick change to show the Joker surviving a knife wound. The Clown Prince of Crime has gone on to clash with Batman innumerable times since.
And when Finger suggested that Batman have a boy partner, it was Mr. Robinson who named him Robin and designed his costume, basing both on N.C. Wyeth's illustration "Robin Meets Maid Marian." "It gave Batman someone to confer with and someone for younger kids to identify with," Mr. Robinson said.
After several years on "Batman," Mr. Robinson was eager to try other things. The book surveys his subsequent comics work, his book and magazine illustration and his work on "Jet Scott," a daily science-fiction adventure strip that ran for two years in The New York Herald Tribune, starting in 1953. It also covers his leap into editorial cartooning, which Mr. Robinson began during the New York newspaper strike of 1962, and his 1977 founding of the Cartoonists & Writers Syndicate to help promote the work of other creators around the world. (The organization has a partnership with The New York Times Syndicate.)
While Mr. Robinson is a passionate defender of creators' rights, he is philosophical about his own situation regarding the Joker, for which he received no additional dividends. "I wish I was smarter at the beginning," he said. "I was 17; I just wanted to get published."
But he was instrumental in mobilizing support for the writer-and-artist team of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, who created Superman and famously sold their rights to the character for $130. In 1975 the pair were asking Warner Communications, DC's corporate parent, for pensions and health insurance, and to pay the debts of their legal battles to win credit and compensation.
The deadline was tight: publicity for the live-action "Superman" film, starring Christopher Reeve, had begun, and Mr. Siegel was in poor health. "It was harried," Mr. Robinson recalled. At one point Mr. Siegel was close to settling because he could not take the stress and was afraid of leaving his family with nothing.
The financial package — annual payments for the rest of their lives and provisions for their heirs — was easier to achieve than the creator credit, but a series of calls involving Mr. Robinson resulted in a deal to have Shuster and Siegel credited on all print materials, films and television productions.
After the agreement was reached, Mr. Robinson received a letter from Siegel, reprinted in the book. He wrote, "Thank you for being what is truly priceless: a good friend."Continue reading the main story


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Official Website: CLICK HERE
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Despite advances toward equality that women have made in the past century, more than half still leave financial decisions up to their husbands. Unfortunately, many Minnesota wives find out too late that not being involved in family finances is a big mistake. Women who don't know the specifics of their financial state may find some surprises when they get divorced.
Past mistakes lead women to get educated about personal finance
Dealing with finances during divorce
For people in Minnesota who decide to divorce, the financial aspects of the end of a marriage can be among the most challenging to resolve. Protecting one's assets is important in order to secure a positive financial future after divorce. There are a few steps that people can keep in mind in order to take financial precautions during this difficult period.
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Mobile Garter & Mobile Cocktail Making Hen Party
Two fantastic mobile hen party activities in one great hen party bundle. The mobile Garter making & cocktail making activities can be held at a venue of your choice, whether it's your home, a cottage, apartments or a larger venue the choice is yours. Just let us know and we are ready to go and we bring everything with us.
By booking both the mobile Garter making and mobile cocktail making hen party activities together you'll benefit from great value, as well as a fabulous balance of crafty and classy entertainment for your hen party.
This Mobile Hen Party Bundle includes:
- Mobile Garter Making
- Mobile Cocktail Making Party
Mobile Garter Making
Why not have a hen party to remember with a unique mobile garter making hen party activity? Get all the girls involved in this fun and a little bit cheeky hen party idea.
Whats Included
- Create your own garter from lace and ribbons!
- Expert craft instructor
- First make your garter from scratch
- Choose from a large selection of laces, ribbons, trims & charms to make your garter unique
- All the materials & craft equipment is included
- Plus a beautiful presentation box to take away and keep your garter safe
- Make it a Vintage class for an extra £3pp
- ADD a cheeky naked butler for £150 for 2 hours (available if venue close to city centre)
- We come to you!
- Create your own garter
- Fabric flowers, bows, beads
- Cottages, Apartments, Homes
Mobile Cocktail Making
If you really fancy is a unique experience being delivered right to your doorstep, the mobile cocktail making hen party is right up your street.
- We bring the cocktails to you
- Learn to make & shake cocktails
- Introduction to your bartender & equipment
- Everyone will drink between 3-4 cocktails each
- Fully trained cocktail bartender
- Includes ice, alcohol stock, garnishes, bar tender and everything needed for the day.
- Travel cost to be added once we know your location
- Make cocktails at your own venue
- Learn to mix & shake cocktails
- Includes all drinks & equipment
- Cottages, Apartments, Hotels


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Professional Essay Helping Platform From Coolessay
Most of the times, the paper sand essays that are expected to be written in college and universities are complicated and requires lot of arguments that is only possible when one has a thorough knowledge of that subject. However this is not possible all the time. Even students who usually Continue Reading


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14 oz Insulated Tumbler
Double-wall vacuum construction with copper insulation. Keeps drink cold for 24 hours or hot for 8 hours. Compact design fits easily under most single cup or K-cup coffee makers as well as in all standard cup holders.
- 14 oz
- Easy sipping, push on lid with slide closure
- Wide opening for comfortable filling and pouring


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In today's Pope Center piece, Ron Trowbridge (whose career covers jobs ranging from English prof to college VP to chief of staff for Chief Justice Burger) writes about the response that the higher education establishment in Texas has launched against ideas for making it more effective and efficient in teaching undergraduates. The reformers have been met with a full-scale counter-attack that includes a big PR firm.
In the recent book by Clay Christensen and Henry Eyring, The Innovative University, the authors contend that many colleges and universities will be left in the dust unless they figure out how to adapt, much as companies have crumbled when innovative technologies hit their markets and they couldn't rapidly adjust to it.
In the past few weeks, terms like "rigor," "core curriculum" and "traditional humanities courses" have acquired new respectibility following publication of Richard Arum and Josipa Roksa's Academically Adrift, a book which bluntly describes the dismal state of Amercan undergraduate education. There's been a great deal of dismay and hand-wringing in higher education outlets, but surprisingly few outright denials insisting that everything's really OK.
NAS is uniquely positioned to influence higher education for the good. As a non-profit organization, we are outside academia, free of its entanglements and able to provide a detached point of view. As a membership association, we are inside the university, with thousands of our members as professors on campuses all over the nation.
In this week's Pope Center Clarion Call, I review the new AEI book The Politically Correct University. I recommend the book highly. It provides an excellent analysis of the problem of ideological imbalance and politicization that besets our higher education system and the closing chapters explore the prospects for change.
In this week's Pope Center Clarion Call, Jane Shaw discusses ideas for change in higher education that she has come across in several recent conferences. The common thread is that the ideas she likes all have a "bottom-up" character rather than "top-down." I strongly agree that good change is apt to come from the "little platoons" rather than through higher ed's generals seeing what's gone wrong and then implementing constructive ideas. The generals are for the most part too busy with a) fundraising and b) the diversity mania to do much good.
Those of us laboring for academic reform often feel like Sisyphus, rolling a rock up the hill only to have it come crashing down again. The gods of academe seem to have condemned higher education to inevitable decay. That thought came to me as I read about the demise of an institute (at Hamilton College) that did everything right, yet the overlords of Political Correctness purged themselves of enemies and "deviationists." I use these terms because the notion that all-is-political, enemies-must-be-destroyed is linked so strongly to communism and its close cousin national socialism. In the above unhappy story, Mark Bauerlein tries to see a silver lining by noting that the Institute survives outside the college. Students can go there and read books for which they receive no academic credit, of course. If ever there was a case study in how much the Left prizes control of higher education, this is it. The next time you are tempted to think that much of what happens is a "misunderstanding" or "good intentions gone awry," please banish the thought. When push comes to shove, there are those who would put a bullet in your head if this were a different place and time. Instead, they kill ideas by depriving them of air space on campus. No institute, no nonconformist faculty. Or, as Stalin put it: "no people, no problem." We, the few, will retire some day and then there will be nobody to speak out against the barbarians. That is our problem. Postscript: Robert Weissberg nails the problem(s) exceptionally well in this article.
Thomas Edison State College, based in Trenton, New Jersey, offers online courses for adults (the average age of students is 35) and accepts credits from all regionally accredited institutions. Advisors work with each student to create a customized program plan that fits him best. Here is a video that tells more about TESC and how it provides "higher education for adults with higher expectations." I wonder if this type of learning will be the future of higher education. What do you think?
Over on Phi Beta Cons, Fred Schwartz ("20 Reasons Why Campus Learning Is Better Than Online") cites my predictions about a "Great Transition" in which higher education will move from in-person campus-based institutions to mostly online instruction in the coming decades. He dislikes the prospect and disagrees with how likely it is. I don't especially like the prospect either, but that's neither here nor there. The important question is whether something like the "Great Transition" could happen. My answer is yes, it could. That's because, though our current institutional basis of higher education looks robust, it is highly vulnerable to small shifts in public esteem. My article, The Shape of (Academic) Things to Come, wore its satirical colors openly. I described people, places, and events twenty years into the future and attributed my detailed foresight to scientifically-enhanced precognition. It says something about the level of fear that online education strikes in today's academics that a fair number wrote to me to protest this leap of imagination, as if, like Prospero, I could conjure it out of thin air. Don't blame me. If something like the Great Transition were to happen, it won't be because I set it in motion. Nor do I think that my fellow seer, Jane Shaw, can be blamed. Fred Schwartz provides 20 reasons why campus learning is (or "can be") better than online college education. Most of his reasons sound right to me. He starts out, "Not every subject lends itself to online learning." Entirely true, at least with current technology. Looking at the last twenty years, I wouldn't exactly rule out the possibility of dramatic improvements in the years ahead, but the more important point is that the subjects Fred cites as better learnt in person—"those that require laboratory work, clinical practice, studio learning, musical instruction, live performance, agricultural work, etc."— do not require a university. Historically, each of them was taught in a non-university setting. Music conservatories and independent art schools still thrive. Science grew up outside the university and has a vigorous life in independent institutes to this day. Moreover, the decoupling of undergraduate education from more advanced studies already has models such as the Rockefeller University. I won't go through all twenty of Fred's reasons, but most of them fall into this pattern. He makes a valid point about the attraction of or benefit to be had from residential colleges, but the point has no real bearing on the larger economic and social forces at work. Yes, it is nice to retire to a college town (point 3), but are we going to keep colleges going in order to provide enhanced retirement options? It seems unlikely. At the end of his post Fred allows that "most of these problems are surmountable," but sees no positive reason why American society would want to surmount them. In his view, "the college campus is not an expensive anachronism." I wish that were true, and, even if it isn't, I wish Americans would continue to believe it true. But as my article suggested, it is a fragile hope. For some fifty years, Americans have had drilled into them that higher education is mainly about getting the credentials to get a well-paying job. If a technology comes along that offers much the same thing at a fraction of the cost, many people will choose that option (there's "our friend the free market" for you). Online education is that technology, and it is late in the game for higher education to turn around and say, "Residential education is worth a premium price because college, after all, is really about the intangible aspects of shared culture, access to civilization, moral elevation, personal associations, and the richness of life." I think such claims happen to be true, but I don't expect them to outweigh career ambition for the great majority of students or their parents. To the contrary, the American public has drunk in the utilitarian calculus that college is a launching pad for lucrative careers. And that public has also grown canny about the undergraduate degree becoming a merely intermediary step on the path to the credentials that really count. To this we have to add the widespread recognition that in-person higher education is an enormously expensive and vainglorious enterprise that frequently produces meager results. This adds up to vulnerability. Fred believes the risk is an illusion. He cites (point #10) earlier claims that "printing, the telephone, sound recording, radio, movies, television, and various generations of computers," would "revolutionize education and make all our schools and universities obsolete!" That's a pretty misleading "and." Most would say that printing, at least, did revolutionize higher education. The other technologies on the list have had considerable consequences for higher education too. It might be useful to think of online education as the synthesis of all of them, perhaps as the gasoline-powered automobile combined and synthesized a host of technologies that had already been invented, and spurred the invention of still more. We can visit Lancaster, Pennsylvania for reassurance that automotive technology did not render horse-powered agriculture and transportation "obsolete," but the equine economy isn't what it once was. I repeat, I am not eager for the rise of an online dominated form of higher education. The cultural losses would include some that matter to me profoundly. But I have yet to see a solid argument why the Great Transition won't happen. "I'd regret it" isn't an argument.
NAS welcomes a new web-based effort to reform higher education, CampusReform.org:
Historically, conservatives have favored the ways of the past—which is why they sometimes fall behind the left in using technology to get organized. But Campus Reform breaks out of the mold to help give this generation's conservatives a forward-thinking cause. NAS, "Campus Reform Looks Forward"


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The man told the intruder to leave or he would be shot.
A 75-year-old blind man shot an intruder who forced his way into the man's home early Friday. At midday Friday, the intruder was listed in serious condition at Shands at the University of Florida with a bullet lodged near his spine.
According to Gainesville Police, the incident occurred at 3 a.m. in the 1400 block of SE 11th St. The man told police he heard someone trying to get into the house and when the man went to the door, the intruder shoved the man back causing him knock over a glass bowl that shattered when the man and the bowl hit the floor.
The man then went to another room to retrieve his .32 caliber revolver. The man told the intruder to leave or he would be shot, according to police.
Lt. Anthony Ferrara said the man called 911, reported that someone was trying to rob him. Minutes later, the man told the emergency dispatcher that he had shot the intruder.
The first officers to arrive at the house found the apparent intruder on the porch.
"It appeared he tried to leave the house and collapsed on the porch," said Ferrara. "He had been shot in the left side of the neck. The victim was very shaken up but otherwise okay."
The suspect was identified as Cevaughn Curtis Jr., 28 of Gainesville. Florida Department of Corrections records show Curtis was released from state prison in January after serving time for battery and was on probation for multiple counts of battery and for intimidating a witness.
Ferrara said Curtis was incapacitated by his injuries and that surgeons were trying to determine whether to attempt to remove the bullet or leave it in place because it was so close to his spine. Curtis will be charged with burglary of an occupied dwelling and battery on a person over the age of 65, Ferrara said.
The victim's name was being withheld to protect his identity.