AARP at 50

So what will life be like for today's student's when they're eligible to join AARP?
Neat video here with one person's idea.

Tougher College Admissions

From the Baltimore Sun: "Applications to some state universities are rising as budget-conscious families take a second look at public education. The effect is being seen in the acceptances and rejections: Schools are likely to turn away some students who might have qualified for admission when the economy was healthier.

Salisbury University and the University of Maryland, Baltimore County are reporting increases in freshman applications of 5 percent or more.

At Towson University, in-state applications are up 3 percent while out-of-state applications are down, indicating that families are leaning toward their home-state universities to get in-state tuition breaks.

"Some folks who might otherwise be looking at higher-priced private colleges are saying, 'That looks out of our league. Let's look at some public options and see if it's a good fit,'" said Aaron Basko, admissions director at Salisbury, where the average score for the math and verbal portions of the SAT was 1,120 last year."

Best lines

On Keith Olberman tonight

"There's a word for people who only teach
their children about abstinence,
they're called 'grandparents'".

Bristol Palin: "Talking to mother about being pregnant was more painful than childbirth."

More (and hopefully the last) on bad uses of photography

I spent the Heads' Holiday/Presidents Day weekend on Cape Cod with my dad, and the big news in New England was the "sexting" that happened at a local middle school. Subsequent stories about other incidents in the New York Times and the Boston Globe have created the latest furor over "today's youth", but what's really different is the use of technology. It's not that boys and girls weren't curious about sex thirty (or three hundred) years ago, but now that moment of exploration can be spread around the school (and the world) in seconds. And the image may live in cyberspace forever (like when you apply for a job). Child-porn charges are pending against six Falmouth 12 year olds. Boys and girls together, it's a new world indeed!

Michael Phelps

There's been a great deal of commentary about the photo of Michael Phelps smoking pot, and while I think that 23 is a bit old for youthful indiscretion, I'm more interested in what I haven't read about... the photographer.

It's 2009, and nothing any of us do is private. We already know that everything we do online is tracked somewhere, and will only appear with our nomination at Secretary of State. Now, with the prevalence of phones that capture photos and videos, any of us at any moment can find ourselves in our least attractive moments entertaining the world on YouTube. Our permission is not needed, if, indeed, we could even identify the person who shot the unflattering picture or video. Teachers in the classroom, students at parties, parents attempting to get the bedrooms picked up, friends in their cars, there is no place that we can assume privacy.

The person who took the photo of Michael Phelps assualted him as surely as if he (or she) had taken a swing at him. The hit to his reputation will never be entirely recovered. This, alas, is now true of all of us. We're all public figures today.

Being a White House Photographer

Thanks to the NY Times there's a pretty interesting video clip here... 8 hours of sitting around for 30 seconds of shooting!