Land O Links
* Michigan State University professor David Arsen whips out the v-word in an open letter to Gov. Rick Snyder about his school ideas: “The Oxford funding proposal and HB 5923 represent a truly dramatic strategy to shift the provision of Michigan’s educational services outside locally-governed school districts. They would establish the closest approximation to a universal statewide voucher system ever implemented in the United States.”
* Gov. Rick Snyder wants more STEM (science-engineering) grads out of our universities. Snyder’s counterpart in North Carolina apparently wants to take that a step further and tell college students that they are on their own, financially, if they want to major in liberal arts subjects. The problem, argues Daniel Luzer, is that the struggles of college grads to find jobs lately has nothing to do with their choice of major, but with the general trends of the economy. And he has a chart to prove it.
* Here at Bridge, we are, shall we say, large on data. It is our favorite four-letter word. So, how could LOL not pick up this charmer on the data-driven method of breaking up with your girlfriend: “If you’re looking for the kind of guy who’s interested in maximizing the worst-off outcome regardless of potential gains—well, I’m not that guy. All you have to do is look at the probabilities and compare the feasible range of outcomes in terms of number of units of pleasure to see that we’re going to have to call this relationship quits.” (Hat tip to AndrewSullivan.com.)
* U.S. Sen. Carl Levin has been the subject of retirement rumors of late. This report about how the Levin-led Armed Services Committee handled a recent nominee may have some bearing on Levin’s enjoyment of life in D.C. these days.
* It seems a major part of the Michigan mystique is tied to its natural attributes – things as simple as what a typical summer day is like. That summer day, of course, is a small piece of a massive climate puzzle. The “normal” weather stems from the larger climactic forces that hold sway, correct? So, if we like how it’s been in Michigan in the last couple of centuries, should we not be worried about reports such as this one that show the larger world changing – and rather rapidly? Michigan does not exist in a vacuum.
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