Education

High School Reunion Brings Back Tension, Bad Memories

Flyer for high school reunion

At Low Point High School, in southern Ithaca, New York, some members of the class of 1996 have mixed feelings about attending their 21-year high school reunion, which took place last Saturday. It seems that not all of the former students have wonderful memories of their high school years. In fact, several of them expressed […]

Grammar: A Manifesto

There is really no excuse for incorrect grammar. Perhaps Chaucer might have been able to get away with saying things like Oure Hooste lough, and swoor, “So moot I gon, This gooth aright; unbokeled is the male, Lat se now who shal telle another tale, For trewely the game is wel bigonne, by claiming that […]

Folger Shakespeare Library Closing Down

A number of old books and some writing instruments.

Rumour has it that the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C. (USA) is preparing to close its doors—shut down—for good.1 The American people can thank a savvy young intern, barely out of university, who recently discovered a clever money-saving technique that somehow slipped by all previous librarians. So what is this discovery which makes the […]

Stanford University Introduces New Planned Obsolescence Engineering Certificate

Stanford, California: In response to an urgent need in the manufacturing community, Stanford University has announced a new special certificate in Planned Obsolescence Engineering. This certificate, which will be available to all engineers (including mechanical, electrical, psychological, chemical, electro-chemical, chemico-electrical, psycho-electrical, and train engineers), “confirms that the engineer is proficient in all aspects of planned […]

Cell Phone Use Increases Literacy Among High School Drama Queens

Clothes on a couch

A new study perpetrated on high school students by the University of South Francisco draws some interesting conclusions about students and cell phone use. First of all, there is a direct correlation between being a high school student and using a cell phone. That is, some, if not many, high school students have and use […]

New Frontiers for Product Placement

You may, perhaps, remember the scene from Air Force One where George Clooney, or Ronald Regan, or Fred Astaire, or whoever it was, finds himself in the cargo hold of the airplane with a not-very-subtle display of Coca-Cola®. (If you happen to have forgotten or had the good fortune not to have seen the movie, […]

Parents Bill Teacher for Child’s Cavities

Ludington, Wisconsin: When Amy Whatley, aged six, came home from the dentist with fourteen cavities, her parents sent the bill to the kindergarten teacher, Ms. Holzman. Amy’s mother, Louisa Whatley, explained that: For a girl who has never in her life had even one cavity to come home all of a sudden with fourteen cavities? […]