Maggie's Farm

With the opening of trout season fast approaching, I felt we ought to open the season with this re-post -

 

Dave Barry's piece begins:

There comes a time when a man must go into the wilderness and face one of mankind's oldest, and most feared, enemies: trout.

Whole thing here.

Real good:

Some important useful info.

This shocker came in over the transom:

Cornell's run in the Sweet 16 may be tarnished after reports surfaced today that all 13 players on the roster have been given elite educations that all but guarantee high-paying jobs after they leave the school. "It's important to remember that right now these are only allegations -- allegations that we are looking into," said NCAA president James Isch. "But, obviously, if true, this would be very disappointing. The NCAA has certain expectations and standards. It's not fair for players at one school to be given expensive educations while athletes at other member schools receive basic, remedial instruction that is worth essentially nothing." According to documents seized from the school's registrar's office, Big Red players have received an education worth $39,450 per year -- or $52,316 including room and board -- totaling more than $200,000 over a four-year career.

Compare that to player at a school like Kentucky, where tuition is set at $4,051 -- but with an actual value far below that. "I don't want to say too much until these reports are confirmed," said Calipari. "But we're talking about more than a $150,000 difference in education per player -- and that's even if my players stayed four years or graduated, which many of them do not. Then these Cornell players are reportedly stepping into six-figure jobs after graduation while my kids, if they don't make the NBA, have absolutely no job prospects or life skills. It's far from a balanced playing field. They are buying the best players by giving them a high-priced education." In addition to the allegations that they were given an expensive education, many Cornell players have been spotted around campus holding books, studying and engaging in interesting conversations. Others have been seen with people who are known to not be tutors. Cornell point guard Louis Dale, who is reportedly enrolled in the College of Human Ecology, denied allegations that the Big Red program is cheating. "The discourse on this matter is fatuous and inane," he said, only implicating his program further...

Chronicle of Higher Ed

From the New Math of Poetry in Chronicle:

If current trends persist, the sheer amount of poetry "published" is likely to double, quadruple, "ten-tuple" in the decades ahead.

Who is writing all this poetry? In quieter times, the art's only significant promoters were English professors who focused on reading poetry for its own sake. Today colleges across America have hundreds of programs devoted to teaching men and women how to actually write the stuff. Those in charge of undergraduate and M.F.A. programs have cast themselves in the role of poetry-writing cheerleaders who are busy assuring tens of thousands of students that they are talented poets who should expect their work not only to be published but to win awards as well.

The notion that writing and performing "poetry" is the easiest way to satisfy the American itch for 15 minutes of fame has spilled out of our campuses and into the wider culture. You can't pick up a violin or oboe for the first time on Monday morning and expect to play at Lincoln Center that weekend, but you can write your first poem in May and appear at an open mike in June waving a "chapbook" for sale.

Listen to the whole thing:

 

 Is this what they thought when they pulled the Obama lever?

She's my new favorite chanteuse. Here's a snip from the unembeddable My One and Only Thrill TV ad. Here's another song: 

 

For those unfamiliar with sailboat racing, it's not just about a faster boat. It's about strategy, tactics, boat-handling, seamanship, fine-tuning, luck, and lots of other details.

Here's some dramatic footage from this year's race.

For people who love food and cooking: CHOW.

At Bloomberg

Have you read The Shack yet?

Send a few spare bucks to Scott Brown.

A sad end for the Tavern on the Green. They closed down last week.

Anti-Social Media: A Rising Rebellion Against Web 2.0?

The future is not a result of choices among alternative paths offered by the present, but a place that is created - created first in the mind and will, created next in activity. The future is not some place we are going to, but one we are creating. The paths are not to be found, but made, and the activity of making them, changes both the maker and the destination.

John Schaar, author of Legitimacy in the Modern State

Civil-Rights Panel Names 19 Colleges It Will Investigate for Gender Bias in
Admissions. And here we thought they wanted diversity.

Since we're doing sort-of fancy Christmas stuff, I am telling Santa that I like Christian Louboutin. Our gentlemen readers' wives or girlfriends might like that stuff too.

"Shopping in the sense of the ceaseless search for the next object that will thrill for a moment and satisfy for a minute is the main interest of people without a purpose."

A daily online advent devotional guide.

I am going to have them send me a daily reminder.

The Puzzle of Boys: Scholars and others debate what it means to grow up male in
America.

It might be a puzzle for metrosexual scholars, but there is no "puzzle of boys." Boys are simple.

Editor's comment: To understand boys, just check this site: The Borderline Sociopathic Blog for Boys. No expensive studies by scholars required.

Jeanne-Claude died - Christo's remarkable wife.

One of the first posts on this site, back when we had around 20 visits per day and had no idea what we were doing (not that we do now), was our visit to Christo's Gates on a frigid day in Central Park: