"We May Have Found the Swole Pill"

Ozempic and similar drugs seem to be quite effective in helping people lose weight. But there are a number of serious side effects possible. One is that in addition to losing fat, users may lose significant amounts of muscle. (Which is bad for several reasons including that it makes it easier to put weight on again.)

But it seems there will be a pharmaceutical fix for that, too


"North Carolina Addresses Teacher Shortage by Doing Nothing"

The amount of hoops folks have to jump through to teach in the public schools in most states is staggering. Here a former North Carolina teacher vigorously outlines one dopey hoop in our fairly well-governed state.

I am the kind of person you want teaching your kids. I don't have funky piercings or hair color; I will shut down any discussion about pronouns faster than a New York minute; I can take any topic (except math, let's be real) and make it interesting. But, I'm out.


"What is College Good For? Some thoughts on investments and return"

Glenn Reynolds takes on four prominent justifications for college today: creating wealth, promoting public values, encouraging critical thinking, and maintaining intellectual capital. He declares doubts about all four. (He's a distinguished law professor at the University of Tennessee.) And as someone who spent his career in academia--while not true of every U.S. college and university and not true for every student--I share those doubts. 

RELATED: Arnold Kling, "Artificial Demand for College: There are not many natural academics".

UPDATE: Link fixed now. Thanks, Doug.


"The Decline of Legacy Media, Rise of Vodcasters, and X's Staying Power"

Reports survey evidence on the "decline of legacy media".

And I agree with this:

. . . I think the deterioration of the American media environment is primarily symptomatic of deeper political and cultural factors—most obviously, the explosive interaction between intense partisan polarization (the parties hate each other) and educational polarization (Republicans are increasingly the party of uneducated voters who resent experts and institutions).


"The recycling scam laid bare in California’s leftist heartland"

Funny or very sad: you decide.

Our South Carolina neighborhood has green cans for garbage and blue cans for recycling. All our neighbors dutifully separate their garbage. We don’t, and we don’t for a very specific reason. What I discovered a couple of years ago is that, while different trucks drive around collecting blue and green cans on garbage day, at the end of the shift, the trucks dump all the garbage into the same landfill. It’s a scam that, according to my local representative, makes people feel good about themselves.