By Scott Jaschik. Oakland University, in Michigan, is distributing hockey pucks to faculty members and some students for use against active shooters on campus, The Detroit News reported. More...

By Scott Jaschik. The American Anthropological Association, the Society for American Archaeology and the Archaeological Institute of America have joined to submit a brief in support of the plaintiffs who have sued the Trump administration alleging that the president does not have authority under the Antiquities Act to substantially reduce the size of Utah's Bears Ears National Monument. More...

By Scott Jaschik. Former students have sued the defunct Mount Ida College, its former board members and some of its representatives, MassLive reported. More...

President Discusses No Child Left Behind and High School Initiatives
George Bush outlines, in very broad strokes, educational policy for the new administration (which resembles that of his previous term, not surprisingly). The speech stresses two major points: raising the bar for achievement, and requiring that schools demonstrates results in return for federal funding. More...

Viral Antimarketing in Politically Conservative Talk Radio
I talked a bit last week about some of the techniques of association used by advertisers and political organizations. Susan Smith Nash offers an extended entry on a similar theme, looking at the technique of "antimarketing" on conservative talk radio in the U.S., "when there is deliberate misinformation, or when the buzz is negative." It's not just political. More...

As California Goes?
Paul Fain, Inside Higher Ed, January 16, 2013

California has taken centre stage in the discussions around online learning and MOOCs in recent weeks, prompted by passage of tax increases (see more and more) to cover rising deficits in the state's higher education system. An organization called 20 Million Minds (20MM) organized a conference to discuss proposals. E-Literate provided very good coverage of the event, which was called Re:Boot California Higher education - a post listing statements made before the conference, some opening thoughts from Michael Feldstein, Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg's introduction, and bottleneck courses. At WCET, Phil Hill describes the state's increasing rolein the governance of the system. More...

Springsteen and an Atlanta Shave
Joe Posnanski, Joe Blogs, January 2, 2013.

Someone wrote to me to recommend this column,  a piece he said reminded him of my article Things You Really Need to Learn from 2006. It's a well-written piece by sportswriter Joe Posnanski on the subject of haircuts and Bruce Springsteen. More...