The New York Times had a story this week that reported: "...a growing body of evidence shows that over all, college students learn less when they use computers or tablets during lectures. They also tend to earn worse grades. The research is unequivocal: Laptops distract from learning, both for users and for those around them. … Continue reading Should Laptops Be Banned in the Classroom? →

I was flipping through the channels, looking for something mindless to watch, and I noticed that the National Dog Show was on NBC. I wasn't in the mood for another football game, so I clicked on the Dog Show, fully expecting to watch it for five minutes and then move on. But there was something about … Continue reading Who Would Have Known? National Dog Show Is Must See TV →

Another great Christmas commercial from British retailer John Lewis just launched. Here is the commercial, enjoy! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jw1Y-zhQURU And here's a great article about the commercial.

According to Wikipedia, Thanksgiving Day is a national holiday celebrated in Canada, the United States, some of the Caribbean islands, and Liberia. It began as a day of giving thanks for the blessing of the harvest and of the preceding year. Similarly named festival holidays occur in Germany and Japan. While the spirit of giving thanks is still alive, Thanksgiving now also means the official start of … Continue reading A Great Day of Giving Thanks →

Except for the years (and years) spent going to college, I have lived the life of the typical American adult, at least on one metric. Based on an analysis of data collected as part of the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), a project sponsored by the Institute of Aging and the Social Security Administration, the … Continue reading Are You a Typical American Adult? →

This past summer I wrote about my purchase of an electric lawnmower, and I said in that post that I would offer a follow-up post focused on my experience with the mower. Well today is the day you have been waiting for. Let me start by saying that overall, the mower has been great. It does … Continue reading It’s All about the Battery →

Jeff Selingo, author of There Is Life After College, recently wrote an article in The New York Times that explored six myths surrounding the choice of what to major in college, suggesting that much of the conventional thinking about majors is wrong. Here are the six myths, with some details that I found interesting: For the … Continue reading Six Myths about Choosing a College Major →

DirecTV has had some great commercials over the years (remember Rob Lowe?), and I've really enjoyed a couple of its most recent ones. The commercials feature the tagline "but some people still like cable", and highlight individuals enjoying painful situations. The commercials aren't enough to make me switch from Verizon's FIOS, which I've been very … Continue reading Spoiled Milk and Broken Turnstiles →

The first part of the headline above is a line from the classic John Mellencamp song, "Jack and Diane". The next lines are: Changes come around real soon Make us women and men The song came on the car radio the other day, and as I pondered the words, I thought to myself that 16 … Continue reading Hold On to 16 as Long as You Can? No Thank You! →