Newmark's Door

Take a look at Massachusetts. Discouraging as heck.

With the kind of "regime uncertainty" we have now (TM Robert Higgs), if I were one of these companies, I'd be sitting on lots of cash, too.

"The ultimate collection of 2010 census maps and charts from around the internet."

An online slide show from last year. But still every bit as scary right now.

Ivy League acceptances went out yesterday bringing--I would suppose--another admissions season almost to a close. ("Almost" because of the students who are in Wait List Hell.) This piece lists some interesting information about the season, including "2011 Was the Hardest Year to Get into College—Ever".

“A few years ago, kids were applying to four or five schools,” says Greg Roberts, dean of admission at the University of Virginia. “But now it’s not uncommon to apply to 10 or 12 or in the extreme even 20 or 30.”

Yep, if you lower the cost of something, people will do more of it.

Also interesting is "College Applicants Are More Interested in Southern Schools".

Vanderbilt, William & Mary, Emory, and Wake Forest, among other schools, are garnering more attention than usual for their pleasant climates. “Kids want sun and are looking for better weather,” says David Montesano, an admissions strategist with College Match Inc., a college consulting service. “Stanford and USC are among the most popular schools in the country for my kids.” 

This is advice Bill Simmons, The Sports Guy, has given frequently.

This is after he spent two weeks teaching himself algebra, geometry, trig, and calculus. And after he started taking university courses in astrophysics.

Jacob is 12 years old.

(And here's Jake taking issue with some of Big Al's work.)

What have you done lately?

As a university instructor I--no surprise--believe that college offers students plenty of value. But I agree with this piece that the disproportionate interest in the most elite schools often  has more to do with mom and dad's bragging rights than value to the students.

It's 2181 miles to hike the Appalachian Trail. You can take a couple of months to do it, or you can watch this four-minute video.

Here are some U. S. Navy personnel doing that.

Link via Instapundit.

Hiring, mostly, people with technical skills:

. . .engineers, designers, computer scientists, data crunchers and other workers with specialized technical skills.

That's good to hear. But watch out for the bankruptcy of the state government.

And for the Big One.