Links for 2010-07-08

"[T]he pitiable thing is that here in reality -- as opposed to the smug fantasy world of this stock speech -- overtime and second jobs are exactly what many of those poor cheering fools in the audience are actually doing to try to make ends meet. The indulgent spendthrift luxuries the Indignant Politician condemns aren't things his audience ever "cut" from their household budgets, because they weren't things their household budgets had ever been able to afford in the first place. Sure, they know how to cut costs and cut coupons, but in real life, the most common and most effective budget-balancing step for their households is not to whittle further at their bare-bones expenses, but to work harder and work more to bring in more revenue."

"So, we have the 5 character classes of action shows: Multi-class hero, techie mage, underworld thief, muscleman fighter, and government-connected cleric."

"In Low-Income Students and the Perpetuation of Inequality: Higher Education in America (Ashgate), author Gary Berg uses both quantitative data and information gleaned from personal interviews with students and professors to show how students from poor families are shortchanged at every stage of their postsecondary education, from admissions practices that discriminate against them, to the numerous obstacles they face getting through college, to the lesser benefits they reap after graduation. There is a great deal to be done on each of these fronts, Berg argues, if higher education is ever to live up to its promise -- to disadvantaged students, and to society at large."

"[W]hy don't mobile ISP's offer meaningful student discounts? (I say 'meaningful' in the sense of both 'substantial' and 'visible.' Right now some of them offer small discounts if you know to ask, but you have to know to ask, and the discounts aren't much.)

I can imagine a college including an optional discounted mobile ISP account in student fees, and students choosing the ISP that best covers their own area. Then, the students could access needed services, and they'd also become accustomed to the amazing convenience of having broadband where you want it, when you want it. As a mobile broadband user myself, I can attest that once you get used to it, you're hooked. It's remarkably handy, often in ways you wouldn't have anticipated at first. But I love the idea that even a student in the middle of nowhere could slip a modem into the usb port of a cheapo netbook and be able to do whatever she needs to do."

"Engineers say that if the power grid becomes more reliant on renewable energy, a lot of new transmission lines will have to be built at some point or there will be unhappy consequences. Mostly this problem has been predicted rather than experienced. But the future may have arrived last month, when the Bonneville Power Administration, a federal agency that oversees power transmission in the Pacific Northwest, had more energy than it could comfortably use."