Dore writes "The Department of Education wants to collect personally identifiable information on all college students, including name, address, birth date, gender, race, and SSN. Privacy is assured. The No Child Left Behind Act, which holds primary and secondary schools accountable prompted this line of thinking. Now colleges should be held accountable. If you made it to college, you were not left behind, and further attempts at monitoring citizens should be."
Courtesy: Slashdot

Gave me a chuckle.

More later on why you were treated with a double dose today.

Well tonight, H&R Block is going to have a huge opportunity for exposure on Jeopardy!, so I figured I could offer a little help for the competition by offering some exposure on the widely read thedustindotcom. So, when tax time comes, don't forget about Jackson Hewitt Tax Service: Get More In Return ?

... just because you don't have his screenname. From Eric's away message:

Injuries from riding motorcycle: 0
Injuries avoided because I wear a helmet: 1

today as I left the parking garage the gate arm lifted, but as I drove under the arm it decided to come back down and hit me right in the head. That's 1 point for motorcycle helmet and 0 points for gate!

There's been a scoring correction: 1 point gate, 0 points Eric.

And, on the tangent, I wish George Lucas were as good at making movies these days as he is at making movie trailers.

Truer words were never spoken. If you haven't seen it, you can check out the teaser trailer for Episode III here.

My plan, in allowing so much time to pass between musings, was to pack as much grandeur as possible into these early days of November. I had hoped that by this time one week ago, I had expended my final breath on the truck routing problem that has permeated my inner workings the last several months. There was hope for a proclomation of significant, if not yet final, educational accomplishment. "I can't wait till November 5th", I'd say, eagerly anticipating my emancipation from required studies. Sure there would be class projects to finish, but the overriding sense that there was "always something that needed to be done" would perish.

Or would it? According to my colleagues in life, the "always" is there for a reason. The papers, the tests, and the homework vanish only to be replaced by yard work, evolving tastebuds requiring home-cooked meals rather than leftover pizza and ramen, and errands that won't run themselves. Hmm. It looks like I've been taking Monday for granted. Heck, it looks like I've been taking Tuesday through Friday for granted as well.

My thesis isn't finished yet and this means I won't officially graduate in December. Does it bother me? No. Will your constant reminder that I don't ever "do anything" and this is why I didn't finish "on time" bother me? Probably sometimes. But I get it. I really do. I understand that you look at me and you see a person that has all the time in the world and still couldn't write a 40 page paper in 6 months. But forgive me if I am not bothered by my own interpretation (and yes, I'm speaking honestly) that I am merely just someone heeding your advice to "enjoy my free time while I still can". Because though I may not be an official "graduate" in December, I will be introduced to reality and I, for one, tend to place a lot of importance on first impressions.

It's not a perfect world where you can trade TV ads for food, but is this really what is most important?

Both sides spent a combined $600 million on TV and radio ads, more than twice the total from 2000.
Source: Yahoo! News