Deeply underrated musician.

First, he is undoubtedly a public figure, which immediately jacks up his burden of proof. Second, when you sue a media outlet, you are handing over discovery to an entity which employs reporters who would like nothing better than access to documentation that otherwise they would not get.

Students Are Using AI to Guide College Decisions. What Is It Telling Them? Education consultants share some common — and often concerning — uses they’re seeing.

Good piece from @taylorswaak.bsky.social on the growing number of students making AI part of their college-search process. What could go wrong?

Watching an old movie on streaming and keep getting served ads for what appears to be a slot machine app you download onto your phone. We are so cooked.

Randy Travis - On The Other Hand (Official Audio) YouTube video by Randy Travis

Pour one out for Don Schlitz, whose sudden passing is a huge loss for Nashville. He wrote or cowrote so many great country songs, including my favorite that isn't a Merle, Dolly or George song youtu.be/pJgV-TGkFeU?...

😬

I look forward to "How a Female Anglerfish Lives on $200,000 a Year at the Bottom of the Ocean."

A screenshot of a New York Times headline that reads “How Female Anglerfish Evolved to Have It All,” to which I can only say yasss Queen

The most Times-y hed to ever Times a Times.

India’s Infosys has created a university of its own to train new hires Employers say universities often don’t prepare students for fast-changing job demands, and new graduates are not workforce-ready. In India, major employers are designing their own education programs f...

"The difference isn’t that U.S. firms don’t train — it’s that few attempt anything like a carefully structured, campus-based finishing school for entry-level hires at this scale."

I push back on this when I get the chance! The hed on my piece today is a textbook illo of Betteridge’s Law haha.

ICYMI

Hampshire Announced It’s Closing. Will Other Small Colleges Follow? A missed enrollment goal and accreditor order in recent months sent worrying signals. But the college’s troubles have been long in the making.

Hampshire College is the eighth private nonprofit college that I know of that is closing in 2026. The others:

Siena Heights
Fontbonne (announced well ahead of time)
Trinity Christian
Sterling
Martin
Providence Christian
Lourdes

Seven closed in 2025, but 17 closed in 2024. Likely not a spike.

It is, would be the short answer.

Y’all know what to do . . .

News I can use!

Hampshire Announced It’s Closing. Will Other Small Colleges Follow? A missed enrollment goal and accreditor order in recent months sent worrying signals. But the college’s troubles have been long in the making.

I wrote a quick story on Hampshire College closing for good. Stick around for the usual speculation about whether this means other troubled institutions are doomed.

Oh it's so on.

Of The Near And Far, by Patricia Brennan 7 track album

If you’re not listening to Patricia Brennan, you’re messing up.

Cosign

That one song by that band Live is kinda good (if you don’t pay a lick of attention to the lyrics).

I am now going to stop looking at the internet for several hours. It is up to no good, I can tell.

Is someone paying you to do this?

Now I'm picturing you wearing fingerless wool gloves and contemplating the office coal pile as the flame gutters on the grate haha.

In This State, ‘Free College’ Isn’t Totally Free Anymore A pending vote could make it the first state to trim benefits from such a program — by making students pay their own fees.

ICYMI I wrote about Maine likely cutting back on the "free" part of free community college. It isn't quite as ominous as it might sound.

I can’t believe we’re using Microsoft Outlook to go to the moon.

Someone sent me this.

Eric does a fine job of unpacking why I look forward to late March all year.

Go Ahead and Use AI. It Will Only Help Me Dominate You. A message of support for my fellow writers

“I will not be joining in the chorus of condemnation. On the contrary. If you are a professional writer, I want you to use AI. Because this industry is competitive. I’ll take any advantage I can get. And if you want to make your writing suck, that’s all the better for me.”

Dear Artisanal Eateries That Serve Breakfast Items: I don’t care how delicious and fussed-over your food is—if you aren’t open when grown-ass people with actual jobs eat breakfast, I don’t respect you.

Experimenting with becoming a Tote Bag Guy. That’s all I’ve got at the moment.